Socially Constructed Narratives for Exploring the Impacts of Air Pollutant Infiltration in Built Environments

Abstract

This dissertation is an autoethnographic (self-guided) interdisciplinary process done by an empathetic entity (me) who noted a problem sorting out the effects of outdoor air pollutants that infiltrate indoors from those of other indoor pollutants. This problem is the lack of understanding by architects, planners, and other experts of relevant implications of their lack of attention to the infiltration of airborne dust indoors in the arid regions of Arizona. This systematic process of informed reflections is written in a continuous narrative, and breakouts or Vignettes. Each Vignette corresponds to a topic directly relevant to the research and contains the evidence that answers an inquiry followed by a reflection based on my experience and observations. In the study of arid lands, autoethnographic Vignettes provide an alternative approach for taking a scientific point of view to reveal complex interactions between the natural and built environments for arid regions and other regions that may experience drier and warmer climatic conditions in the future.