“By the number: Air Quality and Pollution in New York City” by Yuting Zeng
Progress:
Design Brief
For this project, we are making an artifact-driven from researches that we did during class. My research topic talks about how did the environment affect people’s lifestyles in New York City, therefore, I specifically found information about the air quality and pollution of different neighborhoods in the city. New York is such a city composed of competitions and opportunities, and it provides a diverse community of history, art, and cultures. People can find different kinds of activities in the city. Despite factors like pollution, crime, and population density, living in New York City can result in a healthy lifestyle. Based on the research, I decided to make an infographic board in order to visualize the information about air quality and pollution. People who live and work in New York are always busy in their life, they nearly have time to stop for a second and look around the environment that they live in. Therefore, I really hope this artifact will give people a unique experience to interact and reflect their lifestyles based on the environment in New York City.
For the process and materials, I plan to use a black illustration board and decorated it with colorful round sequins in order to represent the air pollution of each neighborhood in New York City. I also created a New York City map on Adobe Illustrator, and I used the “pen tool” to define the outline of the borders. Then I plan to apply the skills of the laser cutting to cut out the borders, so people can clearly see the borders of each district. As a result of my research, although air pollution has become a challenging obstacle for New Yorkers, the city itself has more attractive things waiting for people to discover. New York City not only brings positive influences both culturally and economically to the people, but also to society. I have faith in this city and hope it will become more and more decent in the future.
Research notes:
The articles that I chose to talk about is based on environmental issues that happened around New York City, and it really helps me to get to know more information about the city. The first article talks about the condition of crimes in New York City, and it illustrates the percentage of crimes has dropped which is a good sign of a healthy community. The second article talks about the air pollutions distributed in different areas in New York City, and it gives lots of information. I think it’s really important for us to understand that pollution has become a challenging problem throughout the world, and we should contribute as much as we can to make society a better one. The last article talks about economic conditions in New York City, and it demonstrates that there will be more job opportunities for people in New York City in the future. This is also an important factor that connects to our life because it provides the basic sustainable conditions for people. Overall, I think the resources that I found were helpful and well constructed.
DeStefano, Anthony M. “Year-over-Year Crime Stats Drop for the City.” Am New York, Am New York, 1 Jan. 2019, www.amny.com/news/crime-stats-nyc-1.25268806. Accessed on April 24, 2019
Hinsdale, Jeremy. “By the Numbers: Air Quality and Pollution in New York City.” State of the Planet, Earth Institute, Columbia University, 20 Feb. 2019,
blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2016/06/06/air-quality-pollution-new-york-city/. Accessed on April 24, 2019
Unknown. “NYS Economy Added 7,900 Jobs in February 2019, Reaches New, All-Time High Private Sector Employment Count.” New York State Department of Labor, 2019, labor.ny.gov/stats/pressreleases/pruistat.shtm. Accessed on April 24, 2019
Reflection:
For this project, we are making an artifact-driven from researches that we did during class. I really enjoyed doing this project because it helps me to look at things with different perspectives. It’s was an interesting way to transform our research into an artifact. My topic talks about exploring a healthy lifestyle in New York City, and I did some research based on air quality and pollution in the city. Therefore, I decided to make an illustration board in order to show air quality and pollution in different neighborhoods in New York City. It was really inspiring when I apply my art technique into something so practical, and I felt like it really helped me to understand that art is everywhere in our daily life.
