Describing residential and commercial areas

Exercise 4: Define and Describe the Residential Sub-Areas of Your Neighborhood

Create a map similar to that for Washington Square West showing the sub-areas of your neighborhood. Some neighborhoods may have a consistent character throughout the entire neighborhood. In that case, try to identify individual blocks that may stand out for a particular reason. It is not necessary to describe each of the sub-areas in equal detail. Concentrate primarily on the residential sub areas and on the strongest sub-areas or on those that have the most distinctive historic character and give more general descriptions of others. Describe the distinctive physical characteristics of the area – type of housing, architectural styles, yards and open space, porches, roof features etc.— and illustrate with photos that indicate the typical characteristics of each area.For distinctive blocks that stand out from the rest of the neighborhood describe what makes them different and illustrate with a photograph.