Key terms in plain language
- Observation
- Something you can point to in a view, such as a wall, street width, tree line, or change in slope.
- Interpretation
- Your explanation of why an observed feature matters. Keep it separate from what you directly saw.
Work through these steps
Frame one route question
Choose a question about arrival, identity, connection, enclosure, public life, safety, or change that can be investigated by moving through a place.
Finish this step with: One route question and reason it matters.
Complete a character scan
Record landform, street pattern, frontage, building line, height, public space, landmarks, vegetation, movement, and major interruptions before choosing viewpoints.
Finish this step with: Character notes that explain why the route is representative.
Map the sequence
Set a start, finish, direction, and four to six numbered points at meaningful transitions. Use the course figure-ground builder to create a black-building, white-background route base from the official Virginia footprint layer.
Finish this step with: Numbered route map with direction of travel.
Observe in the field
At every point, record what is visible, what changed from the prior view, what is missing, and what remains uncertain. Capture a consistent view without obstructing or identifying people unnecessarily.
Finish this step with: Ordered images and contemporaneous field notes.
Annotate and interpret
Add at least two meaningful annotations per view. Identify the physical evidence and explain how it affects experience, movement, identity, or public life.
Finish this step with: Annotated sequence with observation separated from interpretation.
Make the route argument
Write a concise conclusion explaining the sequence, the most important transition or break, and one planning or design question the sequence raises.
Finish this step with: Route argument and visible limitation statement.
What to submit
Prepare the items below, then submit the finished assignment in Canvas.
- One accessible PDF or slide deck
- Editable source file
- Route map
- Original field photographs
- Source and image credits
- Signed honor statement
Minimum evidence to include
- Four to six original ordered views
- Numbered route and travel direction
- Character assessment notes
- At least two interpretive annotations per view
- Field date, time, and observer
- One route-level conclusion and limitation
Read before you begin
Course examples and working materials
Four views along a main street
Instructor-created illustration in an imaginary town. It is not a model answer or a description of a course community.
What the example records
- View 1: a sidewalk runs beside continuous storefronts.
- View 2: a narrow side street opens a view to the hills.
- View 3: a vacant lot interrupts the building frontage.
- View 4: a bridge and a sharp turn mark the end of the route.
What it suggests: The sequence shifts from enclosure to an opening, then loses its street edge before the bridge. A design question is how the vacant frontage could support a more legible walking route.
What it cannot establish: These views cannot establish who owns the vacant lot, whether it is available, or how people experience this route at other times.
The example above was created for this course. The links are instructor-provided materials or data inputs. No past-student work is published here.
Open the workbench
Create the scaled figure-ground base, then build the route, visual sequence, field notes, argument, and printable submission sheet.