Sustainable Neighborhoods: Ethnographic Equations

This study analyzed what it meant to build for actual people who experience life within their residential communities - the Washington Park Community on the North-side of Milwaukee, WI. Ethnographic methods shaped the design of this research through conversation and architectural measurements. Ethnography is the anthropological branch that deals with scientific descriptions of an individual\u27s culture. Through people and place, we explored how one defined a sustainable neighborhood. In order to dissect this conversational study, we gained the trust of the Washington Park residents-the people. Through knowledge as a former resident and with connections afforded by Arijit Sen, I gardened with 2 of 6 participants- Angela Pruitt and Phoua Vang. After gaining trust, 6 participants comfortably conversed about their experiences within and without their community. With permission from other residents, we navigated through their built environments - the place. We measured two vacant homes because the participants talked about the effects of vacancies within their neighborhoods. The connected current information and historical records told the story of the space itself. Through overarching principles specific to the participants\u27 definitions, equations - principle 1 + principle 2 + principle 3 = sustainable community- surfaced. One participant expressed, I\u27d really like to see the Washington Park Community self-sufficient...a place to live, work and play and raise a family. The need for adequate housing, closer employment opportunities, and an array of entertainment was desired for families within the area, however, vacant homes did not support a sustainable neighborhood because as a product of an eviction and city foreclosure, families disappeared from the neighborhood; this forfeited the equation that live + work + play + family = sustainable community. These insights were solutions to epidemics facing under-served communities because it captured what was needed and desired