Latino Urbanism
The basis for our project came from the City of Seaside's 2040 plan. The Vision and Guiding Principles of this plan state that Seaside is a vibrant, proudly diverse, energetic and safe community with a good quality of life and economic opportunities. They state that they are striving for a community that has character, social diversity, cultural identity, and that is welcoming to all people.
Our area of focus was demographic analysis and community outreach to the Hispanic population that is living in Seaside. Seaside Economic Development Manager expressed concern that 44% of community members are Latino yet are missing from the city's town meetings. This is of great concern as these residents need to have more influence on decisions that are made in development of their city. We worked with Gloria Stearns and Roberta Greathouse with the City of Seaside to analyze demographic data and consider how Seaside's government reflects its community's ethnicities. We also worked along with various businesses in Seaside, specifically Mi Tierra and Santa Fe grocery stores, that could connect us to the population we wanted to reach. We used James Rojas' City as Play method as a way to engage the Latino community in Seaside. Along the way, we found that it was hard for community members to engage in the City of Play activities as they came and went from the grocery shop, so we conducted informal interviews with community members about how they feel about Seaside and how they would like to be involved. The link below shares the detailed process and findings of our research.
Our area of focus was demographic analysis and community outreach to the Hispanic population that is living in Seaside. Seaside Economic Development Manager expressed concern that 44% of community members are Latino yet are missing from the city's town meetings. This is of great concern as these residents need to have more influence on decisions that are made in development of their city. We worked with Gloria Stearns and Roberta Greathouse with the City of Seaside to analyze demographic data and consider how Seaside's government reflects its community's ethnicities. We also worked along with various businesses in Seaside, specifically Mi Tierra and Santa Fe grocery stores, that could connect us to the population we wanted to reach. We used James Rojas' City as Play method as a way to engage the Latino community in Seaside. Along the way, we found that it was hard for community members to engage in the City of Play activities as they came and went from the grocery shop, so we conducted informal interviews with community members about how they feel about Seaside and how they would like to be involved. The link below shares the detailed process and findings of our research.