Advancement of Methodology

I employ community-based and participatory methodologies to bridge GIS mapping with ethnographic inquiry, centering how people collectively experience, interpret, and inhabit space. By integrating participatory mapping, collaborative data practices, and lived narratives, my work foregrounds community knowledge while connecting technical analysis to the social, cultural, and affective dimensions of spatial life.

Participatory Mapping & Story Mapping

Local residents collaboratively create maps of their neighborhoods that capture lived experiences—such as safety zones, food desert, and sacred spaces. These maps weave together narratives, photographs, and geospatial data to situate personal and collective stories within place.

Transect Walks & Mobile Ethnography

Together with participants, we walk through neighborhoods to discuss spatial features and infrastructures. As they move through these everyday spaces, participants record routes, feelings, and events on their mobile devices.

Spatial Data Integration with Ethnography

We integrate oral histories, archival photographs, and video with GIS layers, while using ArcGIS Survey123 to collect real-time geocoded ethnographic data such as narratives, photographs, and voice notes.

Architectural Analysis

Through architectural analysis, we examine the ‘perceptibility’ of urban spaces—focusing on their visibility, audibility, and massiveness—as well as the ‘centrality’ of structures within the built environment, to understand how design shapes social experience and spatial meaning.