NEIGHBORHOOD BOUNDARY & IDENTITY RESEARCH
Where: DC & Baltimore
When: 2018 - 2021 [Ongoing]
This is an ongoing study in collaboration with Matt Bender, that stemmed partly from the Urban & Community Design Seminar at UDC.
Every neighborhood has three identities: one held by the locals, one experienced by the visitors, and one understood by a much larger audience - the brand. Sometimes these identities overlap and reinforce one another. But, other times they diverge considerably, putting strain on the identity of that place.
The Local: a non-transient occupant whose identity is inextricably linked to a place in which they consider to be home. The main qualifier is that their primary residence is within the community bounds for long enough that they are genuinely acquainted to their neighbors and the ritual and everyday living of the neighborhood. These occupants hold the truths, history, and custom of the neighborhood, generating the perception of its innate qualities.
The Visitor: a transient user of a public place, this person engages with public amenity including business, commerce, entertainment or service. Their motivation for interacting with a community is purposeful, and often happens in brief, periodic intervals. They are observers of neighborhood ritual through the lens & personal understanding of their own neighborhood identity that they transport with them. More frequently visitor interactions with place is introduced through technological means.
The Brand: the overarching, most identifiable characteristics of a place, understood by Locals and Visitors alike. Multiple identifiable characteristics can exist in a neighborhood combining to formulate the Brand, but it is the Brand identity which separates neighborhoods from their surrounding counterparts. More frequently Brand interactions occur through technological means.
Anchor: an identifiable characteristics of place whose existence is intertwined with a place’s identity. These elements hold the ceremony of a place, which can shift or be solidified based on how cultural, social, economic and political elements are projected onto these anchors. This creates a direct correlation between perceived innateness of an anchor and its ability to solidify an identity.
The Local, The Visitor, The Brand - The Table Sessions podcast with Austin Raimond & Matt Bender