Portland’s food carts!
Portland 1: Read the introductory material (pages 1-29) and answer the following questions (no more than a short paragraph per answer): * Both books emphasize the study of place. Define the geographic concept of “place”. Illustrate the concept by describing the place where you are this summer.
The geographic concept of place can be described as what is physically around you, how everything around you is placed, and sensing this “place” through your senses. In the summer, I went back to my suburban home in Corona, California. My area is close to a desert region in the sense that it has relatively high temperature particularly during the summer. I live on a mountain and I am surrounded by mountainous regions, but also has shops and food places nearby.
* Before reading this book, think about your preconceived idea of the City of Portland. From this introductory material, describe two things that matched your preconceived notion of Portland. Describe two things that you had not previously associated with Portland.
Before reading Portlandness, I didn’t know much about Portland.The extent of my Portland knowledge would be seeing a couple pictures on Facebook and Instagram from time to time. I knew that Portland was geographically and environmentally green in a sense that the area had many forest areas and that the people were environmentally friendly and aware of their actions. I had no associated Portland to be such a politically liberal city and to have it be famous for food carts, especially vegan-friendly food.
* Why did the authors choose to introduce Portland as a Cascadian City? What does it mean to be a Cascadian City?
The authors chose to begin with Cascadia because they wanted to introduce from a different context from conventional and stereotypical views of Portland. Many of those, including myself, who read this book will have a preconceived notion of what Portland is like. The book portrays the culture of a Cascadian as more than an alternative west-coast lifestyle. Cascadia, according to the authors, is to “learn to live with less…develop deeper cultural and spiritual formulations for the kind of existence we seek to map out for ourselves in this particular corner of the continent and of the planet”. To me, a Cascadian city seems to be a place striving to be a utopian society such as having more bike roads and having a multitude of vegan options, but it has its faults like existing tensions between Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver.
* What is the essence of Portlandness? Why are maps a useful way of presenting this idea?
The essence of Portlandness seems to be a very liberal culture with an environmentally conscious community with many delicious food options and beautiful green outdoor places. Maps are useful because they can depict certain aspects of Portland on a visual scale. As humans, we are naturally very visual creatures, therefore maps can aid us in visualizing various aspects of Portland. For example, we can see where more liberals are concentrated near Portland and spreads out slowly and becomes more sparse along the outskirts of Portland.
Portland 2: Food and Drink: For three of the main sections of the book (I-VII), choose one of the perspectives represented (e.g., for I. Urban Landscapes, you could choose Bridgetown, Under the Bridges,Where the Sidewalk Ends… or Naked City), and answer the following questions (no more than a short paragraph per answer):
* What is the main concept illustrated in this section (e.g., what is an Urban Landscape)?
The main concept of “food and drink” is how food and drinks are a key element of Portland. In fact, food and drink would be key in any city a traveler visits. The food you eat and the beverages you consume is all part of a city’s culture and the way people live. Though according to the book, coffee and beer seem to have a good reputation. But there are other foods that are good as well, such as their various fun flavors of ice cream.
* What perspective did you choose to read for this section (e.g., Bridgetown, Under the Bridges, Where the Sidewalk Ends… or Naked City)? Why? How would you describe Portland according to this perspective in a few sentences?
I chose “Anything you can do, I can do vegan” because I am a vegetarian, and as a vegetarian, I find it difficult to find places to eat that offer vegetarian options, especially while traveling. To see that there are not only vegetarian, but vegan options delights and amuses me. Environmental and human rights are integral to the Portland culture, so vegan culture seems to go hand in hand with these Portland values. With many vegan options at places ranging from supermarkets dedicated to vegan life to barbershops, being vegan seems to add on and go along with the Portland stereotype. Vegan life is a key part of the Portland culture.
* What map would you produce for Richmond to represent this concept? Why? What would be the title of the map? What might the map look like?
Richmond has some food culture, but not many vegan/vegetarian friendly options. After living in California and being surrounded by amazing food places everywhere, Richmond seems incomparable. I would call Richmond the “so-so vegan friendly” in places such as Carytown.
Portland 3: Views of the City: For three of the main sections of the book (I-VII), choose one of the perspectives represented (e.g., for I. Urban Landscapes, you could choose Bridgetown, Under the Bridges,Where the Sidewalk Ends… or Naked City), and answer the following questions (no more than a short paragraph per answer):
* What is the main concept illustrated in this section (e.g., what is an Urban Landscape)?
The main concept is to talk about the city in relation to psychogeography, or how we experience the city through our sense and our own particular unique perspective.
* What perspective did you choose to read for this section (e.g., Bridgetown, Under the Bridges, Where the Sidewalk Ends… or Naked City)? Why? How would you describe Portland according to this perspective in a few sentences?
I chose to read “Street Emotion” because I never heard of anyone describe a place using street emotion. The time of the day can influence one’s emotion. For example, the morning is associated with calmness. As it gradually turns night, a person can feel more and more stressful throughout the day. More industrialized places faced more negative emotions and stress while nature places had more pleasant emotions.
* What map would you produce for Richmond to represent this concept? Why? What would be the title of the map? What might the map look like?
Richmond would be calm throughout the day. There is not much crime in the city (that I know of), and it is not as stressful or fast-paced like New York or LA. I would name the title of the map “Richmond=calm and mellow”.
Portland 4: Social Relations: For three of the main sections of the book (I-VII), choose one of the perspectives represented (e.g., for I. Urban Landscapes, you could choose Bridgetown, Under the Bridges,Where the Sidewalk Ends… or Naked City), and answer the following questions (no more than a short paragraph per answer):
* What is the main concept illustrated in this section (e.g., what is an Urban Landscape)?
The main concept of social relations explores relationships between the people and the city throughout time.
* What perspective did you choose to read for this section (e.g., Bridgetown, Under the Bridges, Where the Sidewalk Ends… or Naked City)? Why? How would you describe Portland according to this perspective in a few sentences?
I chose Green Paradise because I heard about Portland’s “greenness” and I wanted to read more about it. Portland seems to be a leader in environmental and sustainable movements with it’s many bike paths, public parks, and environmentally sustainable transportation methods. Most of the residents use bikes and Portland also has the most vegans per capita.
* What map would you produce for Richmond to represent this concept? Why? What would be the title of the map? What might the map look like?
I would say Richmond is environmentally friendly, but not as much as Portland. Richmond is physically very green with many trees, which definitely has more trees than California does. Our school itself recently started gradually using solar panels, but I don’t know how environmentally friendly Richmond is as a whole. I would label the map “Richmond’s somewhat green area”.
Very cool and thoughtful perspective on Portland’s dining scene. By looking at their dietary trends, we can understand a lot about the culture and habits of it’s inhabitants. It was definitely noticeable when we went to Portland that most restaurants were your standard “mom-pop shops” or very local chains. Much of Portland remains very “authentic” and ungentrified. There is a strong pride for being a true Portlander and supporting these local businesses.
Given that the Portland culture emphasizes green-living, vegan diets are definitely widespread. Although this is mostly attributed to environmental and health incentives, I think it is also, in part, due to religious reasons. Portland hosts quite a number of Asian Americans as seen in the Chinatown districts. Most Oriental Asians typically practice Buddhism which encourages vegetarian/vegan eating.
I like the way you describe maps. Humans are indeed visual creatures and maps are a great way to show numbers and data in a way most people can understand. This is especially important for those who are not lucky enough to travel to portland, they only have maps to rely on.
You talk about Portland almost as being model utopia, with everyone riding bikes and eating vegan. Reflecting on our trip to the city do you still feel this way? I personally noted that is does seem like a much larger proportion of the population shares these ideals than any other place. However, to me personally I don’t know if I would even say a majority of the residents there are like this, most seemed to not be involved in it at all.
I appreciate your analysis of the city of Portland. The perspectives you chose to write about were all different from the ones I chose, so it was pretty interesting to learn your perspective and how that ties to Richmond. One thing that I experienced in Portland that you also seem to nicely encapsulate is the availability of more food options and the fast growth of food carts. This attribute I believe distinguishes Portland as a receptive city that is open to new trends in the contemporary world.