ARDS 315H3 – Honors Methods Design Inquiry
Week 3
“Storytelling serves as an essential bridge between researchers and the public…” (Adam Gamwell, “How Can Storytelling Unlock the World of Anthropology”)
As a person who entered college as an undecided major in the Fullbrights College, it’s safe to say that it takes me a long time before coming to a decision. However Spring 2022, I took an array of classes to determine what kind of diploma I wanted to hold when graduating. These classes include Cultural Anthropology, Psychology, Philosophy, American Landscape, and Horticulture. I learned quickly that I hated philosophy, and by the end, I chose a path that has led me to today, a third-year Landscape Architecture student.
Being tasked with narrowing down potential research questions for my capstone project, I recall that impactful semester that guided me toward today. In my four years at the University of Arkansas, the class I think about more often than not is my Cultural Anthropology class, so much so, that I am figuring out if I have time in my last few semesters to take on an anthropology minor. All this to say, I know I want my topic of study to meld Cultural Anthropology and Landscape Architecture.
This semester I am enrolled in a seminar that focuses on pilgrimages through an anthropological lens. On the second day of class, we talked about why anthropological research was valuable. I learned that, unlike a majority of other scientific endeavors, there is a high value in qualitative research. Participant observation, rapport, and anecdotal stories are major aspects of how anthropologists do research, write studies, and come to conclusions. Similarly, as a Landscape Architect student, interacting with people who live on-site or have invested interest in said place holds just as much value as any accumulation of data.
Topics of Interest Lists:
- People and their placemaking – planned vs. organic spaces
- Movement on landscape and how people interact with the land
- Religious landmarks and their tie to geometry and natural order
- Inequality, poverty, and marginalized people
I know these four topics are incredibly broad and can go in many different avenues; however, my goal for the research (well I don’t think I know yet, will get back to this)…
As a designer, my approach to the capstone project, this class, and higher education in general, is to expose myself to as much of the world as possible to make me a better, more empathetic designer (and person). I think these four avenues can potentially expose me to ways of thinking that will then help me be more observant during site visits, ask the right questions when doing site analysis research, and think of people who may get overlooked.
People and their placemaking – planned vs. organic spaces
No matter how detailed a space can be designed, people will manipulate it to suit their desired purpose. I think there is a benefit in studying how people claim space for themselves.
Purpose: See what different cultures during different times found desirable in public and private spaces. How does that impact spaces today?
Movement on landscape and how people interact with the land
People like to be outside, go on walks, travel. People will pilgrimage and endeavor on spiritual journies across the landscape. People like to protest, watch parades, and join rallies. People like to move and gather, and that oftentimes requires them to move across land.
Purpose: Study what causes a landscape to incite different reactions from people. What makes them feel safe or unsafe? What causes people to feel connected to the land?
Religious landmarks and their tie to geometry and natural order
It seems there is a lot of connection between religious practices and people’s experience in and on the landscape. As a Catholic, I think the overlapping of religious dogma across different cultures is interesting; how there can be common themes or practices, especially when tied to the land. Furthermore, how temples, churches, or significant religious buildings sometimes align with cardinal directions or other natural events (solstices or equinoxes).
Purpose: Observing ways sacred spaces connect to the landscape. Searching for key features that are innately desirable to future designed spaces.
Inequality, poverty, and marginalized people
A lot of history, especially in America, has been pushing people out of spaces. Furthermore, it seems that sometimes designing and improving a space can lead to gentrification and pushing more people out.
Purpose: Improve my own understanding of redlining, gentrification, and ignorant planning, and then understand/come up with ways to avoid it.
natalielentz.com 
Hello Nat,
I was very excited to read your interest blog. I understand that your brain is probably already filled with ideas, but just in case you need some extra inspiration, here are few thoughts to help guide you!
A topic area that includes both your interests in “Movement on landscape and how people interact with the land” and “Inequality, poverty, and marginalized people” is how the neighborhoods and environments are changed trough immigration and how immigrant communities’ ways of interacting with landscapes are influenced by the spaces they’ve left behind and influence the new spaces they are in.
Additionally for your religious landmark topic, it’d be super interesting to see how different cultures interpret the concept of “order” in how it shown in their landscapes and in their religious architecture.
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Natalie,
I think that there is absolutely a crossroads to be found between your first two points on placemaking and people’s interaction with landscapes. You could see how people have interacted with their landscapes and investigate what that reveals about their values for social or private spaces. Have social spaces been created through or along people’s chosen paths? There could also be connection between religious pilgrimages and religious landmarks — how do both relate to nature and display that religion’s views on nature as a whole? As a whole, I think that many of your larger topics and questions have great potential to be combined into a more specific question that helps you narrow down your research topic.
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Hi Natalie,
Your anthropology topic I find is very interesting as it relates to design very much in my opinion. Studying the history of how humans interacted with landscapes might give us insight on how to design in better ways. If I were you, I would look at this through a historical and a modern lens, maybe even relating it to your topic of marginalized people. Your art through religious motifs seems interesting but I feel like you can go so much further than that than just religion but also that might be a little too vague.
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Wow, your blog entry is so interesting! Just from reading it, I already started brainstorming ideas that I’d love to share with you sometime. Combining topics like religious landmarks and urban marginalization would make for such a fascinating and culturally profound study. The way you tied in your journey here at the University of Arkansas was also super helpful it really gave insight into your perspective and interests. I’m so excited to see how your research evolves!
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