Sarah Nelson Wright

now you see it

This is an urban algorithm, or set of instructions that others can follow about the city, that I created in Mary Flanagan’s Communication & the City class. My algorithm is meant to bring attention to the temporary views created by empty lots in areas of high construction, which change the experience of walking on city sidewalks.

This exercise may be done in any city with new or ongoing development & construction. All you need is a box of sidewalk chalk. (See below for documentation of me and my brother Daniel trying the algorithm in Williamsburg, Brooklyn).

Now You See It, an urban algorithm:

1. Visit an urban neighborhood where there are many empty lots & new construction sites and find a site of recent demolition/future construction

2. Stand in front of the site (may be directly in front or across the street).

3. Observe what you can see as a result of this temporary emptiness that you wouldn’t be able to see if there were a building there

4. Draw what you see in chalk on the sidewalk where you are standing (variation: create a poster to put up on the construction scaffolding or a sidewalk stencil)

5. Photograph the site and your drawing