Anthropology – �鶹��Ƶ

On the Ground: An Applied Anthropology Study of Community Perspectives on Equitable and Sustainable Mobility in National City

Ada Inman — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 16:21:06 +0000

This report presents the findings of an applied anthropology partnership between students in Anthropology 531: Methods in Applied Anthropology at San Diego State University and the City of National City, conducted through the SDSU Sage Project. The class sought to answer the question:
“According to community members, what are the obstacles to sustainable mobility in National City, and what solutions could help expand its use?”
Through walking ethnographies, interviews, and community engagement in all four city districts, students documented both infrastructural and cultural barriers to sustainable mobility. The key findings include: access and equity gaps in transit coverage and usability; safety and infrastructure concerns across pedestrian, cycling, and transit systems; limited public awareness and trust in existing city initiatives; and persistent car dependency shaped by social and practical considerations.
Residents of National City are very involved with and consistently expressed their commitment to community improvement, paired with frustration over issues such as poor lighting, unsafe crossings, unreliable buses, and lack of awareness about available services like the FRANC shuttle.
Quotations from District 2 such as “Driving is just shorter” and “I’d rather drive than wait in the sun for a bus that might not come” capture the lived realities shaping transportation choices.
The recommendations offered in this report—expanding FRANC coverage, improving pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, enhancing safety and awareness, and prioritizing equity and accessibility—represent practical, community-grounded steps toward a more inclusive and sustainable mobility future for National City.

Strategies For Justice Symposium

Ada Inman — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 20:47:33 +0000

Strategies for Justice (SFJ) is an organization with a focus on issues of gender, disability, and racial equity within law enforcement. Through training and speaking engagements, including an annual symposium, SFJ hopes to unveil untold narratives of injustice from those working in policing that can inform reforms within the law enforcement community. SFJ’s mission is to provide the tools necessary to help individuals, social justice organizations, and institutions of higher education work in collaboration with law enforcement, to engage in civil dialogue, and to help create meaningful changes in the communities they serve. The goals of SFJ include passing equity-minded legislation, uncovering injustice through story-telling, and providing education and advocacy for the communities with whom we interact. This project focuses on the SFJ Symposium; the organization’s main event, in hopes that it may serve as a catalyst to continued conversation and execution of any call to action.

Sustainable Communities Collaborative Contact Info

University Faculty Contact
Anne Pisor
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
acp5908@psu.edu

Designing Research Methods for Community Engagement in Southeast San Diego

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:40:44 +0000

The research in this report was created through a partnership between the San Diego Urban Sustainability Coalition (SDUSC) and the Sage Project at San Diego University during Spring of 2022. This research was conducted by students in an upper division anthropology class titled ANTH 531 Methods in Applied Anthropology. This research project aimed to create a community engagement approach in Southeast San Diego, San Diego County District 4, to obtain a baseline of the community needs, priorities, and knowledge about resources and opportunities that would help community members attain a better quality of life and more sustainable way of living.

Columbia, Maryland: Residential Perspectives on the Community’s 50th Birthday

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:39:38 +0000

Planned communities are one way that people have attempted to influence land use patterns and living situations to accommodate specific sociocultural, economic, and environmental needs and desires from the very start of settlement. Columbia, Maryland, a planned community, will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2017. At its beginning, James Rouse and his planning team used a sociological approach to develop Columbia, and help achieve its original goals, including: the creation of a fully, self-sustaining city where residents could both live and work, respecting and integrating the natural environment into the built environment, sustainably accommodating the future growth of the community, integrating mixed income and racially diverse families, and making a profit. Almost 50 years on, Columbia, via Columbia Association, is interested in understanding the staying power of the original goals as it looks forward and plans for Columbiaâ€s future. In Fall 2015, Columbia Association, PALS (Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability), and the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maryland collaborated to collect oral histories from Columbiaâ€s residents on their experiences of living in the community over the past 50 years. Nine undergraduate students and one graduate student taking ANTH 468O/689O: Researching Environment & Culture, under the direction of Dr. L. Jen Shaffer in the Department of Anthropology, interviewed 28 men and women residents of Columbia. An additional four interviews from Columbia Associationâ€s archives were added to the transcripts of the collected oral histories for further analysis. The analysis of the interview texts explored residentsâ€ experiences of economic, demographic, sociocultural and environmental change over the past 50 years and examined responses to such change in the effort to identify ideas for developing sustainable plans to respond to future changes in Columbia. All audio and video recordings of the oral history interviews are archived at Columbia Archives at Columbia Association.

South Campus Neighborhood Project Signage & Wayfinding

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:38:02 +0000

There are many missing, ineffectual, and vandalized street signs in the SCN.
2. Tamper-proof designs for new signage could prevent thievery and vandalization, and the use of tackwelding
and increased fines for stealing could be a part of this.
3. Sustainable materials could be used for new signage to raise awareness and combat heedless
wastefulness.
4. Signage could be added that puts the public in contact with those who have the power to fix missing
or vandalized signs, and to direct the transient population to helpful resources for shelter and
rehabilitation.
5. Signage, parking meters, and crosswalks could act as additional infrastructure for solar- powered or
LED light and combat feelings of danger.
6. Removal or reduction of “For Rent” signs in windows could help to add a sense of pride and
ownership to the SCN.
7. The city could work on helping implement a rewards system between property owners and students
that encourages proper upkeep of properties, especially those that are historic and important. These
properties should be maintained and cared for, as they may become sites with signage and regular
visitation. Upkeep can include but is not limited to things such as regular repairs and holiday
decorations.
8. Historic signage and plaques can be added to locations such as Gage House, Madison Bear Garden,
Kendall Hall, the Train Depot, congregation Beth Israel, and the former sites of Chinatowns and the
Diamond Match Factory. This is by no means an exhaustive list and other areas for plaques can be
found in the Neighborhood History Report.
2
9. Content for plaques can include portraits of historic figures, Sanborne Fire Insurance Maps, old maps
and photographs of the town, information about architectural origin and style, as well as biographical
and factual information about individual’s lives. Other possible content for plaques include the
political, economic, and social development of the SCN over time.
10. Plaques could give ecological information about the mature urban forest, and the meaning and
treatment of trees throughout time in the SCN.
11. A walking tour could be created to link together the signs and plaques, and create a mappable,
nonlinear route for individuals to follow.
12. The use of holiday celebrations such as a traditional Chinese New Year parade or holiday decorations
on houses could help create a sense of cheer and community interconnectedness in the SCN.
13. Historical facts and trivia about the SCN could be posted on poles with LED and Solar lights to create
more brightness and pique historical interest.
14. A metal archway on West 2nd and Ivy would be an ideal spot to signify the location and label the area
as the “South Campus Neighborhood District.” It could also serve as a clear beginning and map
distribution center for a walking tour.
15. Public art in the form of sculptures and murals could depict historical figures or events and be
completed by local artists or CSUC art students

Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner.

Resilient Cities Initiative Contact Info

University Faculty Contact
Jesse Dizard
Anthropology

jdizard@csuchico.edu

Local Government / Community Contact
Brendan Ottoboni

Director of Public Works-Engineering

Participatory Action Research

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:37:12 +0000

Many street signs are missing, ineffectual, or vandalized.
Creates feelings of danger, safety concerns for vehicles and pedestrians, and concerns over
property depreciation for property and business owners.
Tamper-proof designs such as tack-welding could prevent thievery, and increased fines for sign
stealing and increased rewards for finding stolen signage could further discourage it.
It would be important to consider creating sustaianbel signage out of recycled materials to
reduce carbon footprint and acknowledge the neighborhood’s role in creating waste. Materials
such as aluminum or steel are perfect for this.

Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner.

Resilient Cities Initiative Contact Info

University Faculty Contact
Jesse Dizard
Anthropology

jdizard@csuchico.edu

Local Government / Community Contact
Brendan Ottoboni

Director of Public Works-Engineering