Group 1 Final Project

Our group decided to focus on how the University of Utah affects the surrounding areas and Salt Lake City in general. The reason we decided to do this is because our group was interested in finding out how much the University truly does affect the surrounding areas in Salt Lake City or if it didn't really have an affect at all.

The first step in our project was to figure out what type of information we wanted to gather and from who and where we wanted to gather it. We decided that personal interviews would provide insight into how much people in general were affected by the University. We assigned Alex, Mitch, and Morgan to conduct personal interviews and report back to the group on what they found out.

The next thing we did was figure out what aspects we wanted to focus on. We brainstormed a few points and assigned each person in the group to speak about a certain slide. The topics we decided on were: Introduction (Taylor), Academia (Mitch), Urban Geography (Morgan), Events (Andrew), Businesses (Alex, Fort Douglas (Christina).

We also decided that we needed some pictures of the city and how the U had affected it from a optical point of view. Mitch and Andrew were assigned to do this.It is interesting to point out that many local businesses offered discounts for students and had UofU paraphernalia all over their store. When speaking to some of the owners they told us that it attracted students and many of the store owners were UofU alumni.

Overall our group discovered that the University does indeed affect the surrounding areas and Salt Lake City. The football games, lecture series, Fort Douglas and museums affect the city, the businesses and the people.

Final Project Blog Group 4: 9th and 9th - Jordan Pruett

In our study of 9th and 9th we focuses on the neighborhood's emphasis on local over chain stores and the sense of community that comes with this emphasis. To see how strongly the people of 9th and 9th preferred locally owned stores when shopping, we polled a random 20 shoppers in the area to find out. When asked if they would choose a local store or a chain store at the same cost, 100% of respondents picked local. When asked if they would change their mind if the local store cost more, up to 10-15%, only 3 respondents changed their answer to chain - 85% of respondents would still choose a local store at a slightly higher cost.

These poll results weren't too surprising considering the high concentration of locally owned shops around the 9th and 9th area, although the fact that 85% of those polled would still choose local was quite a high number. Some of those polled gave explanations for why they so strongly preferred local stores. One person said that since he actually lives in 9th and 9th, he knows the owners or employees of some of the stores in the neighborhood. So for him, shopping isn't just the acquisition of goods - it is a chance to help out a friend.

Overall, our group found 9th and 9th to be a fun and welcoming place. With a shopping district literally feet from a residential area, the whole place feels like one big community. You can live and shop in the same cozy little neighborhood. It was as if 9th and 9th were not a suburb or a neighborhood but a separate town existing right inside Salt Lake City.

Group 5 Final Post: The Evolution of Housing on Campus (Group Post)

For our final project we decided to focus on how housing on the campusof the University of Utah has evolved over the years. We decided to do this because we were interested to know where the original dorms were located on campus because the ones that we live in now were so recently built.

At first we wanted to create a video consisting of information we found and interviews. We split up different tasks to each member and began work, but soon found that it was hard to get interviews done for each of us and it was hard to get together due to schedule conflicts. We finally settled on a multimedia project with Hannah, Cindy, and Leslie with video clips, Ross and I with posters, and Jessie with an oral presentation of her info.

We began our project with the old dorms on campus. Cindy and Leslie described them as traditional dorms with split gender housing that was more for sleeping than living. One positive was that they were close to the classrooms and were located in the heart of campus. However, they were run down and didn’t instill a sense of community within the residents.

The old dorms were torn down and replaced with the housing today in order to house athletes during the winter olympics. The olympics didn’t really benefit the University in any way though because new housing was already being planned and the campus was shut down for a month. Rather the olympics and the Salt Lake community benefited from the use of the campus. This was Ross and Jessie’s section.

My section focused on present day housing and the stereotypes each group of buildings hold and how the residents interact with one another within the space. I also identified what parts of housing were the pathways, edges, districts, and nodes. Hannah talked about the new Honors dorms that will be completed in the fall and the many benefits of thatthey have for students.

Group 4 Virtual blog part 1

One of the two websites we visited in our virtual walkabout is the Salt Lake Underground magazine. The website is definitely "hip" and advertises a lot of events that pertain to the music scene in Salt Lake. It is easy to navigate, but is not the kind of website for the average tourist to visit to learn about Salt Lake as a whole. The artists the magazine advertises are mostly small local groups, that play at local venues such as Kilby Court. Though the site is available to everyone, it has an exclusive vibe to it. The music scene in Salt Lake is definitely hip to a select group of individuals.

Group 2: Final Project Group Post - Kurt Moore

The city of Sugarhouse (which, in some places, is spelled Sugar House) was established in 1853. It is named after an unsuccessful sugar mill that was located in the city. Sugarhouse is the former home of the Utah State Prison, which has since moved to Draper, and has changed a lot in its history. For example, there are times in Sugarhouse history noted for the splendid shopping and furniture stores, while others are remembered for crime, drugs, graffiti, and gangs. Few historic buildings remain in the area, but one notable historic landmark is he Sugarhouse obelisk. This object is at the intersection of 11th East and 1200 South. It was built in 1934 by Millard Fillmore Malin (a man with a strange collection of famous Utah names) as a “courageous venture” which he hoped would characterize the community. I find that very odd and pointless. Today Sugarhouse is one of many suburbs of Salt Lake Cit. Its split almost evenly between men and women, population-wise, most of whom are in their early thirties. Sugarhouse covers a vast area of land, seven zip codes in all, and incomes range from $34,448 to $93,280 in these areas. The average household has about 2.39 people (a married couple and a partially developed fetus, I guess). Sugarhouse is also notable for its curiously high crime rates, especially in the rape, property crime, and larceny categories. Physically speaking, Sugarhouse is situated at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains, and is very hilly because of this. The boundaries of the city are 500 and 2100 E, and 1300 and 2700 S. Sugarhouse is mainly a residential area, but there are a few areas where you can shop at large corporate entities. There is also a famously large park, Sugarhouse Park, and a college that thinks it looks like Hogwarts (Westminster College). A major source of tension in Sugarhouse in recent years is “Sugar Hole” scandal. This scandal revolves around a man named Craig Mecham who used to own a number of old building in an area called Granite Block. Granite Block was well known for its locally owned shops and restaurants, and was a major feature of Sugarhouse. Mr. Mecham, however, felt that the businesses weren’t making enough money and that the buildings themselves were old and dangerous. In their place, Mecham decided to build a large condo development, hoping to capitalize on the high real estate value in Sugarhouse. His plan went sour when the recession hit and he could no longer afford his planned development. Unlucky for him, he had already torn the buildings down, and what was left was an empty hole in the ground: the Sugar Hole. Many people are still very angry over this situation, and feel that Sugarhouse has lost some of its cultural health. As part of this project, we asked members of the Sugarhouse community a few questions about their feeling on Granite Block. All who responded were aware of the situation, and most felt unhappy about the situation. Some had speculations about the future of the property, but none were sure. As an interesting side note, the members of our group who performed the interviews noted that the businesses around Granite Block that still remain looked empty (though they weren’t) and most were free of customers. The Granit Block issue is an important one because it showcases a lot about imageability. Imageability is the property of something that makes it evoke a certain image or idea. While Granite Block was still there, Sugarhouse made people think of the cool, independent shops and the alternative, hipster environment. Without them, though, there isn’t any particular image that stands out. All of the shopping is now big and commercial, nothing out of the ordinary. What’s left then is the neighborhood itself. However, Sugarhouse is just another suburb of Salt Lake City, not much different than any other suburb East of I-15. The image of Sugarhouse is now different, worse even, and this could have significant consequences in the future. Sugarhouse is in need of an image makeover. It needs to become unique again. I say needs because Sugarhouse reminds me a lot of my hometown, Ogden. Ogden used to be a cool city, full of independently owned shops and cool houses. Property values were high and the city was prosperous. Then, things changed. The economy got bigger, more corporate. Soon there was a mall, and people started to flock elsewhere to spend their money. Historical buildings were abandoned, and as people started spending money outside of Ogden; Ogden stopped being cool. It stopped evoking a unique image in the minds of people, and it went downhill from there. Now, downtown Ogden is 80% renter occupied, and it’s a bad part of town. The same thing could happen to Sugarhouse. If it doesn’t become unique, if it doesn’t separate itself from the dozens of other suburbs of Ogden, then it will lose money and people won’t want to live there anymore.

Sofia Huntington Individual Post 2

Our trip to temple square was pleasant. People can attend the Salt Lake City Landmark no matter what religious background he or she may have. Although many have preconceived notions about the area, (that it only welcomes members of the LDS community), there was diversity within the grounds. There were a lot of tour groups; many of which consisted of people from different countries. LDS missionaries, primarily female, were all over to assist people in various ways. Each spoke a different language, which allowed people of different ethnicities to learn about the church. The grounds were extremely well kept, everyone was friendly, and if I was an investigator of the church, it is definitely a place where I would go to learn and feel welcome. There were not, however, many members of the homeless population inside temple square. Most of the people seemed to be from the middle class, and the tourists could be from a higher economic status. It felt primarily conservative, as most were dressed in casually formal- modest attire. Overall, the area is very nice, and a respectful place to worship and gain knowledge of the LDS church.

-Sofia Huntington

Sofia Huntington Individual Post 1

This week my group decided to utilize the paths created along the Jordan River, and turn the walkabout a “bikeabout”. Biking along the river allowed us to take in every aspect of the area, using all of our senses. The aroma was unfortunately not too settling; there was garbage all over the riverside. The area at the start of the path was fairly sketchy, but as we rode further it became much more aesthetically pleasing. On the side of the path away from the river we passed parks, residential areas, and the peace garden. The peace garden was incredible, and in my opinion should be a walkabout on its own. It is an area for nice family outings, dates, or just a beautiful place to be on your own. As we kept biking, the residential areas became more middle to high class, as opposed to small shacks saw in the beginning. The peace garden was about as far as we needed to go to get a fairly good understanding of the area surrounding the Jordan River. I wouldn’t recommend going there to sit along the side of a beautiful river, because that is far from what the Jordan River has to offer, however, I would recommend biking through the area, and visiting the peace garden.

-Sofia Huntington

Final Post – Group 3

By: Lauren Beckett

For our final project we decided to look at UTA and determine whether or not it is possible to rely solely on public transportation to get around. We found that UTA offers four modes of transportation, although only three of those are well known. First there is trax which is the first light rail system in Utah. Trax is a great way to get around because it is very convenient and it runs in the most populated areas of the Salt Lake Valley. Trax is also great because it goes through our campus, which makes is very easy for students to use, plus it is free for all student and faculty of the U.

The next type of public transportation we talked about were buses. The buses can be a great way to get around because they go much further than trax goes, and they can be more direct. Also the buses are nice because they have express buses which will take you further and make fewer stops along the way. While talking to people at a bus stop on campus we noticed that most of the people who ride the buses do not use either of the other forms of public transportation. They are most familiar with the buses, so that is what they stick too.

The last popular form of public transportation is the frontrunner. They frontrunner is a fairly new addition to UTA and has been a big success. The frontrunner is very nice because it helps travelers to bypass the freeway and still get around quite well in the Wasatch front area. In addition to that the frontrunner is always very clean and useful for both students and business people because they offer free WI-Fi while riding, that way travelers are able to get some work done while commuting.

The final part of our presentation was the incentives and gaps to the public transportation system. For incentives we said that it is a benefit to the economy, it helps cut down on pollution, it helps promote safety by offering people a choice other than driving, and it is a great way for large crowds of people to get to events without as much of a traffic jam. Some of the gaps that we found were in the convenience of the schedules and locations, the weather permitting aspect, the hours of operation and holiday scheduling, the lack of an annual pass, and the interruption of car traffic. Overall we decided that it is possible to get around the Salt Lake area using only public transportation, but that it would take a lot of extra planning, and time allowance.

Group 1 Individual Post Red Butte Gardens

On September 6th our group took a trip to the Red Butte Gardens. It was a very pleasant evening so our group decided to walk up to the gardens. The University wellness fair was going on at the time and there were a lot of people at the gardens because it was free for families to get in. Although there was a busy feel about the place the air still had an air of exclusiveness to it. The groups that were there kept to themselves but also interacted with the people who were in charge of the booths.

The booths were promoting health and wellness in everyday life. The people who were manning the booths were very nice and were reaching out to the people who were at the gardens. The children who were there seemed to be enjoying the time they were having and they even got to take pictures with Curious George.

The garden is organized in an intricate set of pathways that often reveal hidden places in the garden that are beautiful and secluded. We saw students studying, families enjoying the beauty, and couples on dates. It seemed to me that the people who were there represented the low, or middle class. The great thing about the gardens is that it seemed as people walked around, enjoying the flowers and the landscape that they were escaping from their everyday city life and feeling an aesthetic pleasure that can only come from such beauty in the outdoors.

Personally the gardens were a nice break from the stress of school. I truly enjoyed my surroundings and the people I was with. We had a fun time looking at the flowers, feeding the fish, and interacting with the people around us. This is a great spot to study during the early fall and spring times and a nice place to get away from the rush of everyday life.

Group 1 Individual Post Religious District

On September 20, 2011 our group went on a walkabout to the religious district. Our first stop along the way was at the Conference Center. This is where the leaders of the LDS church meet twice a year and address the entire church body whether it be in person, radio or television. When our group entered the building it was obvious that we were somewhat out of place. Everybody was dressed in suits and speaking in hushed tones. But as we were greeted and asked about our reasons of being there I personally felt a sense of welcome from the tour guide and a genuine interest in what we were doing.

Our tour guide John took us on a tour of the center and told us about its origins and some of the sacred symbols that were in the center. He was a very nice man who was willing to answer questions and did his best to make sure that we felt like we were welcome.

Next we went inside the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and looked at some of the art work and a car exhibit that was on display. This building has a different feel from the conference center and didn’t have as much of a sacred feel to it. We then traveled over through temple square and looked at the flowers. Temple Square has a very different feeling. I feel like it is a place where I could sit and think about the life and truly be at peace. The religious district does have an air of exclusiveness just like any other historical church tourist attraction. One who isn’t of the LDS faith might feel a little out of place but as a whole the LDS church is usually very good about making people feel welcome.

Our group went inside of the visitor’s center. There were some sister missionary’s there who welcomed us and even joked around with us a little. We looked at a replica of the Salt Lake Temple and some of the members of the group asked about some of the ceremonies performed in the Temple and the people in our group who were members did our best to answer the questions.

Overall the experience at the religious district was a pleasant and informational experience. I am a member of the LDS church and so I did feel a sense of spirituality and connection while I was at temple square and in the conference center. Overall I would say that the tour guide and the sister missionaries and other people we met were nice and did their best to make our group feel welcome there.

Individual Post: Shoreline Ridge

On my walkabout along the Shoreline Ridge Trail, I learned that the Salt Lake valley used to be a giant lake and the trail was the shore. I thought that fun fact was very interesting and unique. I was surprised by the lack of “pretty” nature. There were lots of dead-looking yellow plants, which was not what I characterized Utah’s nature to be like. I learned for sure that I don’t like to hike! It was very interesting to see the entire city down below this pathway.

Most of the people using this space were exercising. We saw bikers, hikers, dog walkers, and joggers. Everyone in this space was very active. The trail itself was barely big enough for people to pass one another, so human interaction was minimal. The vibe I got from the trail was this place is a quiet secluded place for people to enjoy nature by themselves.

This was a defined edge of the city. Not very many people were using the trail, but I have heard that it goes on for miles, so it could be used as an indirect path from one city to another. Mainly, this place lined the outside of the city. Beyond the trail there were wild plants and mountains, but no more civilization. The Shoreline Ridge trail is a small feature defining the Salt Lake valley.

Farmer’s Market: Individual Post

This was my first experience trying to get to know Salt Lake. I grew up in Nevada, so I expected culture shock when I came to Utah. From my experiences, that is simply not true. The Farmer’s Market is held in Pioneer Park, which I only heard rumors about from people I met at the U. I had gone to the park one other time before for the Twilight Concert Series, and I didn’t notice the Homeless population much at all. When I went to the Farmer’s Market, I noticed the homeless for the first time. Every other aspect of the park was picturesque. The trees were full of leaves and the people were excited to share their vast wealth of knowledge with us. I was interested to learn about the emphasis on local goods that Salt Lake seems to convey. (Where I’m from, there are no farms, hence no local food.)

People used this space entirely for human interaction. Everyone was there to buy or sell their goods. I thought it was interesting that the Farmer’s Market was half food vendors and half local art vendors. There were booths on each side of the pathway as well as some in the middle of the park. There were lots of people on the outside pathways, but considerably less inside the park where the Italian booth was located.

The Farmer’s market is a node where people go to interact with other local product supporters. This area doesn’t define the city, but the ideas it portrays definitely impact the view of Salt Lake as a whole. The emphasis on supporting local economy seems to be characteristic of this city because there are many areas in which local businesses thrive. The area of the Farmer’s Market is thought to be sketchy because there is a large homeless population, but the events that take place in Pioneer Park send a different message entirely.

Personal Blog 2

The Gateway is a private strip mall down town Salt Lake City. I was surprised at how many foreigners were there. For example, Hillary and I interviewed a couple from Australia, one man from Norway, and another man from Brazil. Gateway has diverse selection of nationalities mingling, but there were people who appeared to be from lower income backgrounds. Most everyone there appeared to have the financial position to make purchases there. Also, the people were primarily white. Although there were people from different countries, they tended to be mostly Caucasian.
Although Gateway has a public feel about it, it is private property. We were able to witness this fact when a teenager riding a skateboard was stopped and told to carry the skateboard by a security guard, within only seconds of riding the skateboard. I was especially surprised at how quickly a security guard saw him and stopped him! The security guards are hard to notice, but they are definitely lurking among the crowds.
While the Gateway largely attracts a middle and upper class customers, it does successfully attract a wide variety of ages. We saw kids there who appeared to be in middle school, as well as middle-aged and even elderly people. There also seemed to be an even number of male and female guests.
The Gateway has definite boundaries. The Gateway has clear beginings and endings. Within the Gateway, the side walks tend to be cobbled, the buildings are clean and free of graffiti, there are trees and grass (which is occasionally fake sod), and cars have difficulty driving through the streets because they are narrow and have a lot of pedestrian traffic. Outside the gateway, the streets have mostly automobile traffic, and there tends to be more graffiti and city grime. The atmosphere also changes significantly. It feels rather vacant outside the Gateway, and it can be scary to walk alone outside the confines of the Gateway.
The Gateway is a great example of a district. It has clear boundaries and a defining character, and most Salt Lake residents would probably include it in their map of Salt Lake City.