I’ve never paid attention to certain features and aspects of Downtown Fort Myers such as the architectural design of the buildings prior to the colloquium field trip. I had previously visited downtown Fort Myers on various occasions such as the firework show on the 4^th of July and musical festivals. Visiting down town Fort Myers this time was one of my better experiences because it gave me the opportunity to be more observant of the surroundings and pay attention to certain details of the city that I wouldn’t normally pay attention to. 

One of the first things I observed in downtown Fort Myers was the design of the buildings and the type of businesses and franchises that were there. The buildings were built "up" with at least 2-3 stories rather than flat one story buildings. The buildings were also very close together and there were very few designated parking lots for commuters. Instead, the streets were filled with parallel parking, which allowed for commuters to park right in front of a building and walk right inside. Many of the buildings encompassed restaurants, hair salons, barber shops, banks and a courthouse. Some buildings were composed of mixed-use. On the first story of the building is where they had business and integrated on the second story of the building was for residential uses.

The main form of transportation was by vehicle and walking. There were some pedestrians who walked outside and around Continental Park and around the restaurants. There were not many bikers. This is different from the area that I live in on campus at Florida Gulf Coast because there is a mixed variety of transportation options. Many students bike on campus, take the shuttle, drive or long board. Since I live on campus I generally see students commuting to class on the shuttle and longboard. However, off campus, many people drive because businesses are not as close together as they are in downtown Fort Myers.

In down town Fort Myers, there was not as much green space as there is here near FGCU. Most of the green space that we saw was in continental park. However, due to the design features of down town, it is more common for there to be less green space where business can occupy the space.

On the other hand, on the campus of FGCU and around campus, there is much more green space. There are a lot of spaces not occupied by buildings. Some of these lands are preserved and prevent architects from building on these spaces. Similarly, around FGCU, there is a lot of green space as well as tress and retention ponds.

Overall, this field trip was a great experience and I enjoyed making connections from what we learned in class to the area down town.