Visualizing and Communicating Neighborhood Identities

Abstract

Place quality, sense of place, and authenticity are sensory, psychological, and social constructs that are perceptible in forms, activities, and meanings of places. Much of this is visible in the material culture of places—in the architecture, art, public spaces, show windows, signage, artifacts in public spaces, as well as those that are in private space but visible to the public, and more. In this project we aim to capture and communicate the sense of place and distinct quality of each neighborhood in Cincinnati, OH. Using a range of qualitative and quantitative methods, we generate a set of consis-tent elements to create a single postcard to repre-sent each neighborhood. The 52 cards, one for each neighborhood comparatively present the individual identities of each neighborhood along with a collective identity for the city.