Place meanings surrounding an urban natural area: A qualitative inquiry By James Spartz & Bret Shaw

Thomas J. Gardner

Public Information Campaigns

LSC 515

Thought Paper

Wk. 6

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Place meanings surrounding an urban natural area: A qualitative inquiry

By James Spartz & Bret Shaw

Images of Thoreau prop up in my brain when “phenomenology of landscapes” is used to describe the first person conscious experience of Lake Wingra. Were the place attachment and meaning questions asked wearing a Sigmund Freud mask during the semi-structured interview?

Asking fishing tournament organizers questions about their emotional bond with the lakes they use sets a great stage for narrative story telling. By having organizers detail favorite fishing holes will help encompass emotional attachment to a significant place. These feelings can be transferred to the whole person’s attitude about sustainability.

While your survey had only 16 participants, it behooves me to know their political demographics.  The neighborhoods and businesses surrounding watershed would seem to have polar opposites. It would be interesting to note how different people have a common value on an issue that unites them.  However while there is concern that the qualitative study was homogeneous, it’s effective conclusion could be applied to the cultural composition of fishing organizers.

            The impact upon new development in the neighborhood was the call to arms. Because of the demographics of the area, most would have ample knowledge about the unwanted effects of polluted water runoffs.

Many of the participants actively sought out more information to validate their concerns. While fishing organizers may not have the educational and income levels of Lake Wingra environmentalists, they process the same spirited commitment to protecting their waterways.

Recreational fisherpersons are prime listeners for discussions about solitude and other sanctuary themes.  This theme runs in line with how concern about generational uses helps to create behavior changes. A fisherperson sporting a mounted fish could reminisce about the wild days when a fish that size was not unusual to catch. Along with the narrative, the fisherperson could inject facts and aggregate numbers about the lake. 

Their thematic discussions could engage the negative behavior of recreational fisherperson’s with stories of joy and pride. The serene aesthetic qualities of a fishing lake are essential for having native fish in the lake. Undoubtedly most recreational fishermen participate in hunting or other outdoor sports. Hunters are particularly sensitive to positive associations with their forest experience.

Like the Lake Wingra respondents, many fishermen have generational memories of fishing lakes. While the culture of fishermen might find it hard to digest the definition of healing powers, they might agree that fishing provides a calmness that inspires them. Most use fishing as a way to get away from their families, not to enjoy the poetry of fawn, fauna or exercise.

In conclusion, it was obvious that the people most concerned with lake quality had close proximity to the lake. Their immediate connection to the lake helped them to perceive positive and negative implications of an urban reserve.