Development prevails. In any city so exhausting its square footage that additions become inexorable.
Steel, concrete, wood, glass. Offices, condos, townhomes, apartments.
Even as hearings, reviews, petitions, complaints persist. To which developers may respond or otherwise avoid. Choosing to build in districts abandoned by 20th century commerce. With vacant lots and empty warehouses. Few if any NIMBYs of consequence.
A landscape tarnished only by addicts, lost to the debate over development. Brazenly shooting heroin within eyeshot of new construction.
Lighters, cookers, cotton balls, hypodermic needles.
Hypodermic needles. No protestation is efficacious: you step on them where they lie. On the sidewalk or in a transit station. Littered wherever addicts use.
Though has their number increased, or has development simply increased their visibility?
A question to probe with relevant metadata.
What was a site before it was developed? Where and in what district? When was it developed? For what duration? For what purpose, with how much square footage?
Compare this set to the incidence and location of littered needles as reported by the public. Search for a relation while accounting for certain variables.
Metadata deals in the information of lived experience. What it does for you depends on how it’s treated.