For  the fourth site observation I chose to position myself at the eastern end of N. St. Peter Street and the southern end of St. Ferdinand St.  This position allowed a wide perspective by sitting on the ecotone of three urban environments.  To the North the order and regularity of the mixed use community remains intact while to the West there is a strong presence of a blend between light industry and commercial space.  East, directly adjacent to my position is the Nocca Institute as well as an adaptive reuse residential project.  This position was chosen to observe temporal change in as many different environments that could be observed in one sitting.  This specific site due to its location and lack of inhibitors would be a logical continuation for larger scale change within the neighborhood while the backdrop of the established neighborhood remains within close reach.  It was my hope that my observations within close proximity would be juxtaposed by those observations down the St. Ferdinand corridor reaching deep into the inner gridiron. My observations began at 1:17 p.m. and ended around 3:30 p.m.  A 2-3 hour observation period allows one to get a small understanding of the changes that occur on a site.  My observations consisted mainly of changing weather, light, the influx of traffic, a variety of sounds and the occasional Saturday biker/jogger.  A twenty-four hour+ observation would have introduced elements of routine, security, and overall use. Understanding change is crucial to understanding a site.  In order to truly understand a site it is imperative that one knows how it is used.  These uses change throughout the day as well as throughout the week and year.  This will effect your assessment of the elements that lie within this site that could ultimately influence a design or program of use. I was stopped on my walk back to my car by a thirty year resident of the neighborhood.  My observations until this point were helpful in understanding the micro-scale of this physical site.  However, I think it is equally important to understand others, especially residents, perception of a site, not just your own.  This gentleman provided a macro-scale analysis of changes that he sited within the neighborhood.  These trends and fluctuations reinforced my models of gentrification and forces that are involved. Annotation Diagrams to come…

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