During my West Village walk, I detected some noticeable transitions from the commercial to the residential zone. Some of the transitions include the scale and height of buildings, the number of stores, the number of pedestrians, the speed of which vehicles traveled, the size of roads, as well as the weather. These are all factors which I find to be very significant in terms of my perception of time. For this project, I am mainly using the concepts derived from psychogeography to convey my perception of time.
In the beginning of my hour long walk of documenting my path, the weather was generally acceptable. I was not in a hurry to finish the shoot, but rather taking my time to experience the moment.
While walking, I noticed many descended/elevated architectural structures and entrances, which really captured my attention because in my home country all structures tend to stay at a ground level.
Similarly, fire escape ladders are also very uncommon in my home country, thus making me want to linger and obverse them.
While walking through the commercial zone, I noticed a decent amount of pedestrians, most of whom I assume are students or people who work close to the area. The amount of people and the speed of which they travel made me feel like I had to physically travel in a certain speed as well.
Another component worth noting in the commercial zone would be the speed of which vehicles traveled and the size of roads. Because the distance between buildings that are across from each other is greater, it made me feel like I was traveling slower from one side of the road to another.
In addition to the distance between buildings, the scale and height of these buildings from the commercial zone also affected my perception of time. Because most if not all of these large scale buildings serve as concentration points of productivity one way or another, I felt like I had to increase the speed of which I traveled.
The transitional point of which commercial meets residential zone is marked by this distinctive triangular intersection. In the middle of this intersection, a park sits in the middle, acting as a sign of which residential structures are about to appear.
At this point, stores and shops seem a lot more intimate and cozy in comparison to that of commercial zones. These stores, being mainly cafes, florists, and restaurants accompanied by slow walking pedestrians really affected my actual speed of travel.
Another component worth noting would be the temperature outside. At this point, the temperature dropped even lower. This was a problem because while documenting these places I wasn’t wearing enough. The agonizing pain I felt as a result of my outfit choice really slowed my perception of time while walking through West Village.
Upon entering West Village, the first thing I noticed was the amount of pedestrians and moving cars. During the 30 minutes I spent in West Village, I rarely saw any people and moving cars. The demographic of this location tends to include more people who are just taking walks and relaxing.
Another thing worth noting about West Village is a lot of the buildings are visible from the outside. Because they are closer and less concealed. I can actually see what people are doing inside, which made the whole experience a lot more intimate and interesting.
Lastly, the general height of West Village buildings is around 3 to 6 floors. The scale and height of these buildings made me feel as if I’ve traveled to many destinations within a short amount of time.
Walk 2: Washington Square Park
While traveling towards Washington Square Park, I noticed a distinctive transition from the bustling Fifth Avenue to a much more peaceful and natural environment. This interesting transition is marked by factors such as the height of buildings, nature, the demographic, whereas the general experience was influenced by the movement speed of vehicles and pedestrians, the temperature, the stores and interesting entrances, a sense of familiarity, and etcetera.
At the starting point of this walk, everything moves fast. An endless amount of cars and pedestrians enter and exit the place continuously. The speed of which vehicles and pedestrian traveled made me feel as if I also had to increase my movement speed.
While documenting my experience of the walk, the temperature was below 0 celsius degrees. As a Taiwanese, this was something I am very unfamiliar with. Due to the cold, I felt as if the time passed a lot slowly than it should.
While walking towards Washington Square Park, there were many pedestrian lights, which holistically might have also increased the duration of my walk by a considerable amount.
Because I personally have traveled down this route many times, everything was familiar to me. Interestingly, I think my familiarity of my physical location made the perceived duration of my journey a lot more faster in a sense that I was not lost or felt afraid.
During the front part of my journey, most architectural structures are large buildings with more than 10 floors. Which made be feel like I wasn’t moving much or fast enough every time I use them as my reference points.
In the mid-section of my walk, my surroundings were starting to get interesting. I notice many classy and tasteful doorway entrances leading people either into fancy hotels or apartments. This was something that slowed me down and made me pay more attention to the surroundings.
Another crucial element I’ve noticed is the lack of stores and shops on the street, which made me walk faster because nothing was really designed to capture attentions and businesses on this path, except for one cafe which I could see it’s customers from the outside.
Another discovery I’ve made while walking was the beautiful gardens that came with certain old buildings, which include cathedrals, nursing schools, and other religious institutions on the path. These fenced but visible gardens captured my attention because more often than not some degree of human activities take place in these gardens.
The transition from a bustling to peaceful spacial experience came later in the walk when I was about to arrive the Washington Square Park. Here, buildings are a lot shorter and smaller in scale with most being public or educational institutions. Less pedestrians and cars are visible here. As a result, my actual walking speed slowed down.
Finally, upon arriving the Washington Square Park, I felt as if time has slowed down and that I have entered a space isolated from the ones outside.
Walk 3: Stuyvesant Park
My Stuyvesant walk experience was rather different in comparison to the two other walks in a sense that I am very familiar with this particular path. Factors such as familiarity, the time of the day, the number of people, and the number of stores are what made the overall experience unique and accurate in terms of time perception.
My walk to Stuyvesant began from The New School building. This walk, in comparison to the other two, appeared to have more pedestrians and venders to a point where some parts of my journey were even crowded. The amount of physical barriers and distractions made me traveled at a slower speed.
Another thing worth noting about the Stuyvesant walk is that there are many stores and restaurants on this path. While walking for both the first and second time, I would either get distracted by something that was taking place, the smell coming from certain restaurants, or shops that were on sale. These stores slowed me down by a lot.
Another example of a distraction other than the store would be the venders on the side walk.
Another side note on these stores would be the effects of light. At night, most if not all of the stores become very visible. People walking through them can easily see what happens in these stores, thus making people such as I want to pay more attention to them.
Because this journey to Stuyvesant required us to turn left and right a lot, I had to wait for the pedestrian light to turn on many occasions. Altogether, I must have spent more than 8 minutes waiting for the lights to change per walk.
Due to the Union Square Station, crowds of people enter and leave from the mid-section of my journey. Because personally I am not fond of large crowds, it made the experience slightly less enjoyable and thus slowly perceptively when in fact I was traveling at a normal speed.
Finally, the number of vehicles and the speed of which they traveled added to the element of crowdedness, which personally made me feel more uncomfortable and thus traveling faster.
Project Reflection
After my three attempts on experiencing time, I learned that there are a countless amount of factors that can affect my perception of time. Some of these factors include the temperature outside, the speed of movement surrounding me, the number of distractions(food, shops, pedestrians), the number of things I was carrying, the type of music I was listening to, the shoes I was wearing, and the time of the day. An interesting factor I was not expecting is the fact that how familiarity can also affect my perception of time as well. While I went on my walks to the Washington Square Park and to the West Village, I did not feel tired at all because everything was brand new to me. However, because I was unfamiliar with the space and felt unsafe, I felt like time was passing slowly than usual. Overall, the data sets below suggests my perception of duration is also longer than the actual duration, which may be a good indicator that perhaps I move faster than I expect myself would.
Notes From the First Walk
Walk 1: The New School — Stuyvesant Park Residence
Distance: 0.8 mile
Temperature: – 2 degrees Celsius
Weather: No rain, slightly windy
Perception of Duration: 25 minutes (6 minutes later)
Estimated Duration: 16 minutes
Actual Duration: 19 minutes (3 minutes late)
Walking Time: 6:46PM—7:05PM
Important Factors:
Third of my 3 walks.
Carrying many things.
Many people on the streets.
Many distractions such as venders, stores, and people.
Familiar with this route.
Walked on these paths many times before.
Walk 2: Washington Square Park — The New School
Distance: 0.3 mile
Temperature: – 1 degrees Celsius
Weather: No rain, slightly windy
Perception of Duration: 8-9 minutes (Approximately the same)
Estimated Duration: 6 minutes
Actual Duration: 9 minutes (3 minutes late)
Walking Time: 6:09PM—6:18PM
Important Factors:
Second of my 3 walks.
I wasn’t carrying much.
Been to this destination only once before.
Decent amount of people on the street.
Quite distracted by the beautiful sights.
Listening to music.
Walk 2: The New School — Washington Square Park
Distance: 1.2 miles
Temperature: 0 degrees Celsius
Weather: No rain, slightly windy
Perception of Duration: 15 minutes (10 minutes faster)
