The class will run in three parts:
I. What is a map, anyway? Map-reading from a critical perspective, and some background on critical cartography.
II. Creative counter-mappings: In this section we'll look at counter-cartography, learn about some exciting projects combining mapping and activism, and scheme up some of our own.
III. How to make maps -- practical cartography. We'll look at GIS and non-GIS approaches to map-making, check out some open-source tools and data sources, and make some maps of our own!
[copied from Public School New York]
More often than not, maps are used as a base for our research and design, but we rarely wonder how they were formed, by whom, and for what purpose. Maps are subjective. They should be questioned in the same way that we question our elected officials. What is their hidden (or not so hidden) agenda? Who paid for them? Whose interests are they serving?
In drawing a map, we embed in it our political views, our observations and our informed choices. We draw attention to certain things and minimize the presence of others.
What’s missing in the map of a shopping mall?
When did New Jersey vanish from the MTA subway map?
Where is the REAL Green Line between Israel and the occupied territories?
And once we’ve figured out all that, how can we use our skills to transform the process of mapping into a new type of activism?
The class will explore several examples of mapping manipulation as well as mapping as a social activity in hope to generate new ideas and tools of intervention in the urban environment.
Comment
Could I join in online?
2 Oct 2011 4:33PM
I didn't write the class description above, just expressed an interest in taking the course. I can, however, contribute a bit of info on the history of maps, along with some images.
One thing that has not been mentioned is the "draw your world" exercise, a popular technique in planning, in which people in various places and situations (e.g. farmers, kids) are asked to draw the area around them as they see it. There can be amazing differences among people from different socio-economic groups in the same city. In terms of natural resources planning, it is an excellent way for non-literate people to express what resources are important to them (e.g. opportunity to hunt or clear land) and to their livelihood and/or value system (e.g. sacred places).
3 Oct 2011 1:06PM
I really like the idea of "draw your world" - even if the class doesn't happen i intend to incorporate that into my planning toolbox for future projects! Thanks!
3 Oct 2011 1:11PM