Reflection on looking for absence of structure

This mini assignment requires us to walk around with a partner within a designated area and search for either absence of structure or structure in New York City. My partner and I were assigned to look for absence of structure, and we walked around the university center from 12th street to 14th street to look for them.

Before my partner and I went out and complete this exercise, I had the perception that there would barely be any absence of structure within New York City and thought it would be easier if the task is structure since structures are very obvious to eyes and absence of structure is more ‘invisible, which means you really need to search for it. However, I was completely wrong as I was not being open-minded enough before I started doing this exercise. Absence of structure could literally be anything that disrupt a structure and make things look less organized. Although there were a lot of absence of structure on the street already, such as the sidewalk was missing some stones so it becomes a danger to people as they might stumble on the missing areas of the sidewalk, my partner and I decided to go into stores and supermarkets to for more absence of structure. We found so much within 3 minutes after we went into a small local supermarket, for example the vegetables weren’t lined up properly or there are gaps between them as somebody took one of the vegetables.

This activity is like a scavenger hunt, I was so glad that we have outdoor activities rather than just sitting inside the classroom and researching about absence of structure in New York City online. I preferred seeing and feeling things myself,  therefore I really enjoyed this activity, I thought it was very interesting to do.