City Artifacts: What and Where?

For your proposals due Thursday, you need to designate the artifact in the U-District that will be the subject of your study. This artifact can be:

• a public part of the built environment, like a bridge or intersection;
• a privately-owned location in the neighborhood, like a garage or building or commercial establishment within a building;
• a monument or landmark, like a statue or mural;
• an open space, like a park or construction site or vacant lot;
• a "vector of connection" to or within the neighborhood, like a bus-route or bike trail;
• a text that marks the neighborhood, like a set of posters or graffiti.

Obviously there is a lot of overlap among these options--and the artifact can be something else entirely, if you check with me first. Please choose something that's interesting to you. And remember to think about the pros and cons of working as an "insider" (on an artifact that you already know and use) or "outsider" (on an artifact that is new to you).

So where is the U-District? For the purposes of this project, it's the area east of I-5, west of Montlake Boulevard/25th Ave NE, south of Ravenna Park, and north of the Montlake Cut. Here's a map:



University District.
From http://www.historylink.org/I-map/NErav.htm.

You'll want to explore the neighborhood on foot or on bike before choosing an artifact. You'll also want to think about the history of your artifact; a good place to start is with the history of the U-District itself, which you can read about in more detail here. (But don't forget about the other internet sources I provided in the assignment guidelines.)

And please... check with Gabrielle if you have questions!