The document provides guidelines for intervention exercises involving standing still on a street corner and walking backwards from home to campus. It then shares summaries from three students, Nick, Karis and Jess, of their experiences doing these interventions. Nick stood on a corner near his home at 5:30pm, noticing pedestrians and cars passing by but not interacting with him. He walked backwards to campus, seeing the familiar route in reverse and getting odd looks. Karis also stood on a corner near her home, noticing her surroundings more than people passing by. She walked backwards and was laughed at, taking longer and feeling uneasy. Jess stood on a quiet corner by her house, noticing student behaviors, and got strange looks. When walking backwards, she

2. INTERVENTION GUIDELINES:
(i) Pick a street corner (anywhere) and stand still. Whilst maintaining the façade of purely just
standing there.
- What do you notice about the world around you?
- How do you feel whilst standing there?
- How do other pedestrians respond/perceive you?
(ii) Make a normal journey from home to campus, only backwards.
- What do you notice about the world around you?
- How do you feel whilst standing there?
- How do other pedestrians respond/perceive you?
… however, we could not find an appropriate time at which all of us could convene and do this task so
unfortunately we had to undertake it separately with the help of our friends who weren’t human
geographers.

3. NICK’S INTERVENTIONS: STREET CORNER EXERCISE
Heeley
Road
For the street corner exercise I chose the corner
of Heeley Road, which joins onto Raddlebarn
Road. I decided to go at 17:30 because it’s a time
which I am normally at home and so am
unfamiliar with the goings on then.
- There was a fair amount of cars and pedestrians
going past, which I presumed to be people returning
home from work.
- I felt as if the world was almost passing me by in the
sense that I’m such a small component of it that in the
process of me standing there I couldn’t change what
was happening and nothing stopped because I had.
-my affectual capacity was low
- The pedestrians that passed me by gave me a few
glances but on the whole the seem to more
preoccupied with getting home and telephone
conversations to notice that I was just standing there.

4. NICK’S INTERVENTIONS: WALKING TO UNIVERSITY BACKWARDS
Walking to university backwards was a very weird, unique
experience. While I was doing this I was seeing
everything I would normally except it was what I
would see on the way back from university rather
than to. This gave me an interesting and new
perspective that I wouldn't’t normally have, as well
as feeling thoroughly weird in the process. The walk
obviously took me longer to do because we as a race
don’t tend to walk backward that much and so when
we do it’s a very odd and challenging action to
complete.
The closer I got to university the more odd looks and what
appeared to be sniggers as if to say “…is he
serious?...”.
I did however feel as if I was in some way challenging the
powers and some of these boundaries we have in
everyday life because no one else was doing this and
so made me feel as if I was breaking the
‘norm’, challenging these ‘unsaid’ rules.

5. Bournbrook Road
KARIS’ INTERVENTIONS: STREET CORNER
- Stood on corner of
Bournbrook/Oakfield/Serpentine…
- Not too busy, more cars than people
- Pedestrians only glanced as they walked
by, not much interaction
- I took more notice of the physical
environment than passers by, surprised
by an area I walk past everyday, saw
things I don’t normally look at…
Street names at the end of my
road, pretty house and signs
- Strange looks from cars, cautious that I
may step out into the road?
- Assumption I must be trying to cross… A
man stopped for me to cross & was
then confused/irritated when I didn’t
- I felt a little uncomfortable, however I
picked this corner as I knew it wasn’t
too busy

6. KARIS’ INTERVENTIONS: WALKING BACKWARDS
- Did it the wrong way round…
- People found it quite amusing, I had
two people openly laugh at me and
one take a photo; possibly for
snapchat or some other kind of
social media?
- I noticed I take the ease of walking for
granted, it took me three times as
long, I trod in a big puddle and felt
quite uneasy
- I felt particularly uncomfortable
crossing at the lights as there were
so many people watching me
- My guide (who wasn’t a cultural
geographer) found it quite amusing,
laughed a lot and commented along
the way
- Pedestrians either found me funny or
irritating – most people avoided me
and actively walked around me/took
a slightly different route e.g. off the
path

7. JESS’ INTERVENTIONS: STREET CORNER
-
I chose a street corner close to my house
-
It wasn’t on a busy road so there weren’t many cars passing by,
just students. I noticed that despite my perceptions of students just
throwing rubbish on the floor as and when they wanted to (as
Dawlish Rd is covered in Rubbish!) but students were all dodging
the rubbish, although not mentioning it – as if accepting it as part
of the student cultural landscape.
-
I got strange looks from students as I wasn’t waiting outside
house (as if waiting for a friend). Normal pedestrians didn’t
respond to me when I was standing still as it was early in the
morning, with people either on their phones or rushing to get to
please and some even seemed drowsy.

8. JESS’ INTERVENTIONS: WALKING BACKWARDS
- Reactions to my walking backwards
was mixed. Some students
laughed, some giggled and others
made remarks; some students
just looked at me for a long time
with puzzled looks and then
carried on with their day.
Needless to say, I felt embarassed
to be seen walking backwards
and being deemed as ‘strange’
and ‘weird’ although it did make
me giggle trying to walk
backwards whilst trying not to fall
over rubbish, curbs and trying not
to bump into people.