As part of our neighborhood scramble assignment, our class was asked to explore a Pittsburgh neighborhood using four different lenses: businesses, civic assets, community organizations, and public resources. The goal wasn’t just to learn about one neighborhood—it was to practice quickly understanding how a place functions. In a few weeks, my group will be traveling to Carrigart, Ireland, through the Global Haller Fellowship, where we’ll work on a consulting project focused on finding ways to strengthen Carrigart’s local economy through business development. This exercise was designed to prepare us for that experience by teaching us how to notice the people, organizations, and resources that shape a community.

My group explored Shadyside, and the easiest lens to identify was definitely businesses. Walking down Walnut Street and the surrounding blocks, it was obvious that local shops, restaurants, cafés, and boutiques are a major part of the neighborhood’s identity. The commercial district is active, walkable, and constantly draws people in, making businesses the first thing you notice when exploring the area.

The hardest category to identify was community organizations. Unlike businesses, they aren’t always visible from the sidewalk. It took more digging to find organizations that support residents through community programming, neighborhood advocacy, or volunteer work. That difference says something important about how Shadyside works. Its economic activity is front and center because that’s what visitors interact with most, while the organizations that help keep the community connected operate more behind the scenes.

The part of this assignment that I think will be most useful in Ireland was learning how to observe before making assumptions. Rather than immediately thinking about solutions, we practiced asking questions like: What businesses already exist? Who brings the community together? What resources are available? Those observations create a much stronger foundation for any recommendations. That approach fits well with the Global Haller Fellowship, where our team will be working directly with Carrigart to understand its strengths before suggesting ways to support local business development.

The biggest challenge in Ireland will be doing the same kind of analysis in a place that is much less familiar. In Pittsburgh, I already have a general understanding of the region, its culture, and how neighborhoods tend to function. Carrigart will be different. We’ll need to learn about the local economy, traditions, and community priorities without assuming they operate the same way as communities in western Pennsylvania. Building trust with local residents and understanding what they actually want will probably be the hardest part, but it will also be the most valuable. If we can combine the observation skills we practiced in Shadyside with careful listening once we arrive in Carrigart, we’ll be in a much better position to recommend ideas that genuinely fit the community instead of imposing solutions from the outside.