Crosstown Walk Lab Activity

Abstract: Our study was to observe social and environmental characteristics of the Edgehill
neighborhood in Nashville at specific intervals along two streets of varied socioeconomic status. In our
observations we measured quantifiable characteristics of each street including, tree quantity, instances
of graffiti, types of structures, number of each type of structure, ___, and ___. These metrics will be
used to assess the socioeconomic influences on each street. Areas of higher affluence would expect to
have higher amounts of tree cover, lower graffiti, more private housing, fewer civic and commercial
structures, ___, and ___. The number of trees observed at each site did not represent expectation with
great tree cover along 12th Ave S. No instances of graffiti were observed offering no conclusive data.

Methods: This study was conducted by visual observation of the environment at 3 intervals on 12th Ave
South and 15th Ave South, between Edgehill Ave and Wedgewood Ave in the Edgehill neighborhood of
Nashville, TN. The first observation was conducted one city block north of Wedgewood Ave, the second
at Horton Ave, and the third at Edgehill Ave. Our data was collected by visually counting the number of
instances of each of the above listed metrics while standing in one place at each data point.

4
3

6
1
Results:

Metrics
# of Trees # of Graffiti Type of Bldg # of Bldgs ? ?
1 50 0
2 47 0
Data Points

3 33 0
4 38 0
5 38 0
6 42 0

The number of trees counted at each data point did not support my hypothesis that a greater number of
trees would be associated with an area of high affluence. I did observe that, due to the location of and
size of trees on 12th Ave S, there was greater visibility at each data point, allowing for more trees to be
visible. Additionally, the civic structures and public housing on 12th Ave S or decorated with more tress
but provided much less lawn space than the private residences on 15th Ave S. With no instances of
graffiti found the metric did not provide any useful information.

Discussion:

The data suggests that the lowest area of economic status lay between data points 2 and 3 on 12th Ave
S. There were many limitations to our observations and the conclusion that we can draw from them.
While the tree count was higher on 12th Ave S the private dwellings on 15th Ave S had private lawn space
for each residence which would be a great indication of affluence. The limited viewing range from 15th
Ave S also limited the data when compared to 12th Ave S due to the size of the trees, space between
structures and width of the road. After conducting this study, I believe more information could be
gathered specifically about the environmental and social variables along 12 Ave S, as the gentrification
has already created a substantial difference in the environmental from Wedgewood Ave to Edgehill Ave.