Pedestrian Mall Observation Essay

I. Observations
I completed this observation on the Main Street Pedestrian Mall in downtown Memphis. As a pedestrian mall, Main Street in most of downtown Memphis is closed to vehicular traffic, with the idea of promoting usage by pedestrians. Trolley lines run along the middle of the street, although the trolleys are currently under repair and have been replaced with buses. Specifically, I observed activity along a block of Main Street just south of Union Avenue. The mixed-use block includes several popular restaurants (including patio areas for outdoor seating), apartments, medical offices, and retail stores. The availability of benches along the pedestrian mall allowed for unobtrusive observations of pedestrians walking past. The observation
I did not notice anyone acknowledge a person in another group; there was very little, if any, intergroup interaction taking place on the pedestrian mall, despite the groups’ close geographical proximity. This was most prominent in the case of a panhandler, who seated herself at a bench directly across from me. She asked every group passing by if they could help her by giving any spare change. Although she was only seated there for a brief amount of time before moving on to a different location, every group that she attempted to talk to ignored her. Most diverted their attention somewhere else to avoid eye contact, and some even changed their walking path to avoid any interaction with her. Although a dramatic case, the lack of interactions between the panhandler and pedestrians symbolized the larger lack of interactions between any two differing groups on the pedestrian
A determination must be made regarding diversity, and whether it includes only race or socioeconomic class, or both. For either race or socioeconomic class, it is difficult (perhaps impossible) to classify people by appearance alone. It must also be determined whether the study will focus specifically on downtown Memphis and, if so, the geographic boundaries of that location. In addition, “interaction” must be defined; does a wave or nod count as an interaction, or must a longer conversation take place in order to be considered as