CityLab Catalyst:
A sensory analysis of the Carroll Park neighborhood
Hi,
This is Ali, a 2nd year MBA student at Johns Hopkins University
I am an empath at the intersection of analytics and creativity. College towns are notoriously transient. Being an international student adds another layer of instability on top. Your relationship with a city is a means to an end as you are never really sure what your next destination will be. This results in a surface level relationship with the city you occupy and my relationship with Baltimore has been no different. City Immersion through the premier course City Lab at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School is my effort to explore my relationship with Baltimore while comparing it with my hometown of Lahore
On July 25th, 2018, Baltimore welcomed me in the most Baltimore way: through an unexpected rainstorm that had turned into a beautiful afternoon by the time I had finished moving in. Baltimore seemed dull compared to the loud, exciting, dense and vivacious cultural capital of Pakistan: Lahore.
​
Baltimore's "White L"
What followed were culture shocks of tastes, huge portion sizes, tipping culture, completely different night life and more. The transient nature of Baltimore as a college town meant that I found myself surrounded by others experiencing the same issues. This resulting social circle and the wild Baltimore stories via news and popular culture landed me in a comfort zone that amounted to a lack of exploration beyond the "White L".
​
My only interaction with the local communities came through Hopkins. My amazing classmates and business leaders through the Social Innovation Lab and the Community Consulting Lab programs gave me a glimpse into the works of amazing leaders making a difference everyday. Yet, I rarely engaged with locals outside of school.
​
So, when I went back to Hopkins to pursue my MBA, I decided to take the course CityLab: an experiential learning course that immerses students in under-resourced neighborhoods of Baltimore and Washington, DC. Right off the bat, I realized how Baltimore and Lahore (and Pakistan) struggled with similar issues of image management, equity and citizen empowerment.
For my research, I focused on the area around Carroll Park located around the South West of Baltimore. Through various neighborhood walks, interactions with locals through Friends of Carroll Park (a local group of neighbors and stakeholders) and project leaders, I was able to gain a better understanding of the neighborhood, it's priorities, it's issues and it's inhabitants.
​
This portfolio is a comparative sensory analysis using the five senses to understand the assets and issues around the Carroll Park neighborhood and how they differ from my sensory experiences in Lahore.
Lahore to Baltimore: 7,197 miles & 3 years apart
Carroll Park Neighborhood: Area explored through walks
