Many of the assignments that we have done in this class have been of the kind I’ve never seen before. We actually get hands-on and go out in the community to see firsthand what we are doing. The in-depth explanation of how the world around us is built. The directions and explanation of each assignment engage me to think about my past experiences with urban design and cause me to wonder when I’m out walking during my daily activities.

When listening to a TED Talk, I found that James Kunstler really emphasizes the underlying problem of decaying infrastructure by stating, “The immersive ugliness of our everyday environments in America is entropy made visible.” Kunstler’s use of irony in this quote spotlights the lack of awareness that we, as a community, have toward buildings and structures we see every day. This use of rhetoric really makes a statement for people who might have just turned on this TED Talk and catches the audience’s attention to listen to the rest of Kunstler’s ideas on the “ugliness” of America.

That entire TED Talk itself has had the most effect on me out of most of our assignments, with the use of extreme diction and over-exaggeration that the speaker uses to make everyday things seem like a huge eyesore or a big deal. In response to his over-the-top exaggerations and harsh language, I’ve found myself analyzing the environment around me a lot more than I had in the past. I’ve seen more minute details in buildings that really do make them “ugly”.

I’ve been able to put the things ive heard from this TED Talk into practice with some of our assignments in which we have to analyze the use of urbanization in the community around us. Our class walked around both the campus and Adamson Square to depict the use of urbanization and see how the use of it has both positively and negatively affected how we see the world around us in our everyday lives. For example, during the walk through Adamson Square in Carrollton I noticed that there was an awkward step down to the entrance of the store ‘Vinyl Frontier’ and doesn’t allow for a satisfying flow from the entrance to the sidewalk. On the other hand when walking around each corner of the square the sidewalk expands smoothly around all of the shops on the corner making the transition from narrow sidewalks to wide walking area seamless.

You can even see this in our school. Carrollton High School is a combination of three buildings that are connected through halls and is organized by letters. each building isn’t too big to where it is a hassle to get to another building and each of the buildings have doors that lead to one central place, the courtyard. The courtyard is placed in such a way that students are encouraged to transition outside and walk through the courtyard to go to class. This short cut makes a faster way for people to go to class and creates a large central area for students to meet and socialize before moving to their next class. The wide open courtyard area offers a more alluring alternative to walking in the cramped hallways, and this design was intentional.

These assignments that engage me with our community have helped me learn that the simple sidewalks that we walk on every day are not just there to be there but have a deeper reasoning to why they are there. The layouts of coffee shops and restaurants are all built in such a way to attract them, keep them around or even encourage them to leave sooner or later. I’ve come to realize that the layout of the community we live in has been purposefully made to affect our emotions, thoughts, and attitudes towards the area we are in.