More Walking — from Topics to Questions

I went for my second round of neighborhood walking on Saturday, February 18th. I decided to trace my steps from last week, which I mapped out, and expanded around my area at least two blocks away on each edge.

When I started my walking, I noticed I forgot my notebook, BUT I tried to only use observational skills and communication skills, as well as documenting specific places with my phone camera.

What I wanted to dissect from situating myself in Chinatown is the way people choose to live in the area, and how smaller communities within the space are formed. The most captivating aspect of my walk from Saturday was maneuvering through Columbus Park, where dozens of people gathered to gamble with cards, hold sermons and prayer circles, played Mahjong, and do many other interactive activities with friends, families and relatives. There is also a small soccer field in the area where children could be seen playing.

Since Saturday was one of the warmest and nicest days of the week, there were an abundance of people out in Chinatown taking a stroll. What I found surprising was how busy the community seemed to be on a sunnier day compared to during the winter time, but this may compare with surroundings in the city as well when it comes to warmer weather. Sales people dotted the area and tried to make sales while produce and fish markets seemed to attract even more customers than ever before. In Chinatown, there are also multiple groups of families tat travel together whether it’d be a mother and her children, or a father and his children, or elder and grandkids from my observation. There are little to no pets to be found walking around with their owners, the neighborhood strictly caters to the people.

In Studio, I chose to narrow down my interests within the food industry in Chinatown, specifically overviewing the maintenance and independency of produce and meat markets that dot the streets of Chinatown. This is a captivating topic for me since in a way it shows how Chinatown succeeds on its own, boastful economy. The census facts from my last post support my topic in which it underlines the mass amount population that work for businesses, the total amount of men that own independent businesses, and the population of Chinese people in Chinatown, of whom businesses cater to.

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