ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to evaluate the role of Instagram, a social media application, as a community engagement tool in the urban design process. Instagram is marketed as both a social media and a photography tool. The chapter draws upon precedents in environment-behavior studies and community engagement that have used photography as a means to gather qualitative data and gain fresh perspective directly from the users of a place. It focuses on the Ohlone Greenway, a multi-use public trail that runs through and connects the cities of Alameda and Berkeley in northern California. The hypothesis for the Ohlone Greenway as it intersected Cedar Rose Park was that people would not be satisfied with the width of the path and the path quality within the site. The City of Berkeley is interested in making pedestrian and bicycle improvements to the Ohlone Greenway.
