three hour site visits to housing/community settings scheduled throughout the semester.  They occur on Saturdays. An evaluation is required for each site visit and should be approximately 5 pages of double spaced text, highlighting the positive and negative aspects of the community’s environment.  It is helpful to make sketches, diagrams and especially photos of each community to provide graphic examples of your analysis. Such visuals are not counted in the page limit. More detailed information to aid in the evaluation will be given prior to the site visits, but should focus on:

–              Resident characteristics (age/income/social class/gender/competency/mobility/background)

–              Site design and typologies

–              Neighborhood characteristics (transportation, safety, shopping, etc.)

–              Use and design of common space

–              Landscape development

–              Interior design/furniture issues

–              Design of dwelling units

–              Services, facilities, and features

–              Management and care-giving philosophies/approaches

Site visit analyses will be due at the same time and should be the same format discussed above.  As described above, visual material such as sketches, diagrams and especially photos (none of which count in the page limit, are a helpful addition to give the professors an idea of the type of community you visited.