Weekend Assignment

I wanted to intertwine the urban algorithm with the whole psychogeography experiment to explore the neighborhood around my house on campus, near the corner of 15th St. and Norris. Instead of always heading east to cross broad towards campus for classes, food, etc. I decided I need to explore westward of my house, to see what the neighborhood had to offer my psyche. The rules I set forth consisted of turning right when I come to stop signs, turning left when I come to traffic lights.



I began on the corner of 15th and Norris, turned right and headed out west…







Apologies for the lighting... (camera phone)







My first eye pleasing observation, right on my block. A mural of multiple little scenes along the bottom of the house and steps.









Turning Left (south) on 16th St. and Norris














On 16th street I passed some real interesting artwork I had no idea existed only 2 blocks from my home...

I started thinking alot about what this mural might mean. especially when considering the location, the neighborhood, and the city...






"We must be the change we want to see in the world..."




*Note: not far from the previous mural.


The next intersection I came to was with Berks street, but it was a traffic light that you could not turn left on, and with my experiment's rules I could not make a right unless faced with a stop sign, so I skipped on to the next block, Montgomery, which was yet another light.

Making the Left off of 16th st. onto Montgomery
























A pile of various parts and pieces. Mostly cement. Pieces of a past structure or future building blocks...







It wasn't long before I discovered the flaw in my algorhithm's rules. As I came to the corner of Montomgery and 15th St. I noticed that I was making a giant loop right back to where I had started by making three consecutive left turns. I guess I should have planned ahead for something like this happening, but I thought I had just as a good a chance at coming across stop signs too...




Making the left onto 15th street from Montgomery












An interesting structure observed otuside a building on 15th st. heading back to Norris









Although the trip was short, I thought it was a valuable one. Not only did I learn a lesson in planning an urban algorithm, but it was the first time I just aimlessly walked around my neighborhood this year, taking in my surroundings, and I found a real enjoyment in it. It gave me an appreciation for the area and a desire to explore further and see what uncovered gems may lie just around the corner. . .

AlGORITHMIC PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY-AN EXPERIMENT BY JAKE WOOLF

basically, for my project, I wanted not only the experience to be in a way algorithmic, but I wanted the end result to be too. So, like most people, when I hear "algorithm", I think of math. What is the best and easiest way to experience math? With numbers. So, with that, I devised a set of rules that comprised of the following:

1. I would take a walk from my dorm room to the Saxby's on Liacouras Walk. Along my way I would take pictures of anything and everything that had the number 2 in it that I saw along the way.

2. I would not be allowed to stop unless already seeing a "2". I would not be allowed to stop and look. If I didn't see it while walking by, I simply did not see it.

3. Along the way, I would take every full number I saw it as a part of (ex: 1932) and add them up. To make it more interesting, If the final result ended in a two, I win, if not, oh well.

Heres some of the numbers I took pictures of.

So far, pretty simple. 2+2=4. (Hooray for the first grade!)

By the way, this is the second floor of 1940.

And more of the same...boring...2+2+2=6.

Ok, a little better. This is for 2010. So, now we have 2+2+2+2010= 2016...

Nice picture If I do say so myself, but boo simple 2. Not even gonna write it out. We know. 2018.

Now I'm FINALLY outside, where I know, as shown, there will be more interesting numbers than floors. Here we have a nice 1932 (Sounds like I'm talking about wine) number.

Also, there's a bunch more of these which I doubt I'll post cause they're redundant but I will include them in the final equation.

So...2018+1932= 3950

Ha...kind of a joke...but I will nonetheless include it as a #2. 3952 is our total. (This is the hours sheet on the door of New Wok)

Knowing that if I include the ".25" it will screw up my entire chance of ending in a #2, I decided to pretend I'm in europe and so it will be considered "2,250". (Also assuming theres a zero after the 5) So our total is now 6202.

24 hour sign for 7-Eleven. Enough said. 6202+24= 6226.

For this one I had to be incognito as I peered through the window of the 7-Eleven with the zoom lens. However, I did see the box when I was walking by so I had to do it. 6226+25= 6251.

This is the last picture I'm going to put up cause I think you all get the idea...but I liked this picture too. So, of the pictures, we have a grand total of

6251+2009=8260. In the pictures I didn't post, there was an additional 1902, 249, 1926, 1912, 1902 (The Saxby's), and a "2K10" which i counted as 2000. So, overall that gives us 8260+1902+249+1926+1912+1902+2000= 18,151. Well, I guess I lose. I thought it was cool to look for one particular thing on this path because that demands you to look in certain places you wouldn't normally look if you had a set destination.

Urban Algorithm - Robby Goss

I decided to do my Urban Algorithm around Love Park beacause it's a place that pretty much everyone knows about and events occur there every single day. I decided to make two simple rules for the project
1) Make at least 2 loops around the park
2) Each time i pass the Love statue, I must make conversation with someone.

As i started walki ng around the park, I was utterly surprised to see that barely anyone was at the park that day (freakin' weather).

But with the few people there i did meet some interesting ones. Two in particular were holding up FREE HUGS signs in front of the statue, me and my friend ran over and partake when they told us it was actually National Free Hugs day! I was surprised I had t otally forgotten about such a holliday. I asked if i could get a picture but the one girl was kinda shy and didnt really want one so I respected that and we said our goodbyes.

On our second loop, again the park was empty. But there were still a few people around the statue so I could still follow the rule. I started talking to this one guy who was taking pictures of different people, from affar it seemed like he was just being a creepy guy taking pictures of all these people but when we asked him what he was doing, he said he was taking pictures for other people in front of the statue since its kinda a signature saying, "I was there" as he put it.

But we didnt get our picture taken cause he was charging people and being a college student... no cash.

I'm happy with the results of the experience even though there wernt that many people at the park, there was still happenings going on. Every time theres something, whether it be skaters, bikers, break dancers, weddings, tours, or just people giving hugs. Theres never a reason NOT to go to Love Park <3

Urban Algorithm

I decided to put my idea into my route on my way home from class today. I thought of a few ideas but then decided this one would be best. All I did was walk out of class then look for directional arrows. I followed the arrows and tried to get home. It turns out there a lot more arrows than I thought there'd be. A lot of one way streets arrows, some one Temple buildings, some on street signs, parking signs, even some spray painted arrows. My route took about 25 minutes longer than my usual route, plus I ran out of photo space on my phone. I ran into some Jehovah's Witness' who gave me some pamphlets, and I noticed some nice paintings on an elementary school. Here are some of my pix.

Some arrows were conflicting ^^^

Urban Algorithm -Caitlin Cherry

My Urban Algorithm took place between Marvine St. and Front, and Catherine St. and Bainbridge crossing the Bella Vista and Queen Village neighborhoods.

I walk 3 blocks from my house to work every day. I take a very direct route: walk one block up 8th St., turn left on Bainbridge, walk two blocks to 10th St. and I'm there.

For my urban algorithm I decided to walk to work using two rules:
1. Only walk on streets ending with a vowel.
2. Do not use numbered streets.

Because my street ends in a consonant, St. Albans, I decided to start my walk from where my car was parked on Catherine St.

Catherine St. at 8th St. (my car is the white one!)

I walked west on Catherine St. I passed a few streets ending in vowels, but they did not go through to another vowel-ended street.

Percy St.


Delhi St.

A few blocks past my normal path, I found Marvine St. I turned right, up Marvine St.,

Then, finally, a right on Bainbridge near 11th St.

Getting home was much more difficult. I did not want to go back the same route, so I walked east on Bainbridge. Little did I know, there were no streets that ended in a vowel between 11th St. and the Delaware River. I found Reese St., but it did not go through to another vowel-ended street.

I reached the water then turned around, having to take the same route back to get home.




As a part of this project, I photographed the number 7 on houses. On my walk I looked for something to appreciate, and to make sure I'm paying attention to my surroundings. I love the font and style of the 7 on my own house, so I took notice of other 7s along my walk. Here are some of the interesting ones I found:

Urban Algorithm - Gabriella DiFulvio

I chose to complete my assignment in my own neighborhood since I haven't lived here very long and I never take time to explore very often. When I first began my route I decided the rule I would use to dictate my journey would consist of apattern. Every two blocks I turn right. The next two blocks I turn left and continue to turn left three times. I then turn right again. The sequence looks like RLLLRLLL. My starting point was 15th and Green street.


Along my walk I began to notice pieces of art and interesting things that I had never seen before. Rather than document each street I crossed I took pictures of things that jumped out to me. It was nice to see things I passed driving in my car on a daily basis up close, it allowed me to finally see them and not just notice them as I sped past. Below are some pictures I took that include these things:






Overall I really enjoyed the experience. Walking down streets I had never had the chance to allowed me to see interesting things I wouldn't have thought would even exist in my neighborhood. I had trouble creating a rule that actually brought me back to my original point of departure but other than that I saw some interesting new things.

Ryan Bercaw - Urban Algorithm

I chose to use my neighborhood for the project. I haven't lived here long and wanted to find an inventive way to explore the area around my apartment. The process took me around my neighborhood surprisingly well, and worked out as a way to take a simple walk in places one might not usually go.

My simple rules were to stand outside my apartment at 1918 Diamond and go the direction of the first car that passes me. From there I would stop at every street corner and go the opposite direction of the first car that comes to the intersection while I'm there. Human contact comes into play in that the flow of people driving their cars dictated where I would go. Although I went down a few back alleys, the fact that certain roads were traveled much more than others meant that I was stuck on them for much longer than others.

The map shows my path and how it was very convenient about getting me around multiple roads close to my apartment and then back to it. I think what made this project successful was the fact that every road (except the one I started on, Diamond) was one way. This made it possible for there to be no confusion as to where I had to go, and no walking back and forth on one sidewalk over and over.
Map of my path. Norris is a pretty busy street and as seen I was brought there multiple times.
My first time turning onto Norris.
Turning off Norris for the second time and onto 18th.
This car that brought me onto 20th was essentially the one that marked the halfway point and started the trip back.
Despite them both being pretty heavily traveled roads, I had to stand on this corner of 19th and Norris for about 5 minutes in the cold rain before a car came.I was happy to see this car come down 17th because it meant I could go back up to Diamond and get home.