ybessas

urban cartographic explorations	planitas	primarolia
anthropocene museum	SPR app	townscapes
red sketchbook	quarantine urbanism	easter on mars

urban cartographic explorations

(explorations on an alternative cartographic act)

abstract

The architectural practice is intertwined with cartography, especially in cases of urban scale and intervention in the urban landscape. The map activates tensions and concepts

for alternative readings of the modern urban physiognomy. This research paper explores the power of cartographic practice and the dynamics of the map as a tool for documenting urban realities. Main objective is to consolidate a personal cartographic attempt to respond to the challenge of critical cartography, and to validate the map as an essential tool for revealing, reading, comprehending, even enforcing and intervening in the urban landscape. Driven by the course of cartography over time, the meaning of the map is redefined and its subjectivity is emphasized. Afterwards, two turning points in the 20th century cartographic thought are described; Debord’s psychogeography and Lynch’s mental cartography, and finally, a catalytic involvement of the architect with the map. Focusing on two indicative examples of mapping, the research thinking matures and key dimensions are extracted in the direction of urban mapping. Consequently, with the theoretical background, a fertile ground was created for the development of an alternative cartographic act. We hope that this personal and subjective approach will activate a series of cartographic readings and will arm the reader with the lens of a rather free interpretation of the map, and consequently of the city.

The following maps were created as part of my research thesis on Urban Mapping (el. ‘Astiko Chartografein’), at the Department of Architecture, University of Patras. Theme mapping object is the Nikis (Voriou Ipirou) Square, commonly known as ‘Ayia Sofia’ in Patras (GR). It is considered as a hub of flows and networks with major concentration of human interaction for the northern part of the city.

Some of the cartographic diagrams were hand drawn, and some of them digital.

epilogue

The mapping methodology presented in this paper is seen as a personal view of the identification of urban cartography. It is a subjective effort that aims to unlock components of urban space. This attempt clearly captures an inner anxiety to experiment with the map and directs a structured interactive game, which supports and realises the inner impulses for cartographic concerns and actions. Through the construction, deconstruction and denaturation of theoretical concepts, a new idea is born, a new tension that describes and defines the meaning of urban mapping. An essential objective is for the urban issues of the city of Patras to be recognised and to have a complete record of them, in the context of answers and directions for urban interventions. In a discussion of the geographical, social and urban phenomena of the city, it is not meant to lack the appropriate supporting cartographic material. In this way, the dimensions of the spatial realities are secured with their geographical location, and based on the localization and decoding, their management becomes easier.

Guided by the unleashing and redemptive power of the map for search and therefore the development of new methods, this personal narrative was created using a variety of multidimensional means of expression to imprint the data. The methodology has given a number of ‘mappings’ with a variety of subjects and character, each describing one or more elements of the urban physiognomy and capturing dynamic urban relationships, pressures and factors that define the specific node. These maps, therefore, prove to be a source of thoughts and conclusions. The number of maps that can be created is inexhaustible, but we create an illustrative sample as an interpretation of the concepts and theoretical notions studied.

Urban mapping, as an active and dynamic process of mapping the modern urban landscape, emerges as a source and presumption of thoughts, which in turn display directions of strategic intervention in the urbanscape, which harmonize with, and balance the urban ‘being’.

https://issuu.com/ynbessas/docs/bessas_urban_cartographic_explorations_2021

©Yannis Bessas 2021

quarantine urbanism

quarantine urbanism

urban dwellers during quarantine

During quarantine everything changed in the urban and architectural environment. So I tried to record and map the differences before and during quarantine time. Dwellers started to stay longer on their balconies and use common spaces in the apartment buildings as a last attempt to maintain their social life. Urban movements and the relation to the public and private space also changed.

If we tried to map the living spots of Athenian dwellers during the quarantine, we would soon assume that the urban space they interact with, is apparently smaller and less extended as it was before the quarantine. Depending on their social or occupation background, the dwellers have different approaches in the same city. (Athens, GR)

©Yannis Bessas 2021

SPR app

SPR (sporades islands) app

concept diagramms for a travel and destination exploring/ organising/ scheduling app.

©Yannis Bessas 2021

primarolia

(aka: landscape formation in patras)

Primarolia were the first ships that carried the fruit of the raisin from Patras to 6-7 destination ports. Author Athina Kakouri, wrote the well-known novel 'Primarolia' inspired by Patras of the raisin merchants in the 1890s.

analysis

through investigation, every aspect of the waterfront area was recorded on maps

intervention strategy

1. enhancement of the natural landscape of the coastline and enrichment of the space between the waterfront and the buildings along the coastal avenue. This zone suffers from erosion and intense urban pressures (coastal road network, marina, arbitrary constructions, harbor zones located in narrow lanes with short distances between them).

2. ecological congestion of the coastal front through the creation of an urban biotope that delineates the congested areas, which are the only zones without generalized access (2 port zones) and enrichment of activities and programs within the park in topographic recesses. Thus, the landscape becomes a host of activities in the framework of urban expansion.

3. halophytic planting will restore the initial condition of the natural environment, halt sea level rise, prevent further erosion and provide an urban park for local residents. Moreover, it will create a small ecosystem of organisms that will enhance the sustainability of the port zone.

bibliography + digital sources

Pappas Vasilis, Patras: Maritime Front, Port, Town
(presentation in the framework of the research project: Patras: Maritime Front, Port, Town (Collaboration of the Municipality of Patras and University of Patras), 2011

Pappas Vasilis, Patras: Searching for the present and the future of the city (presentation in the "Talking about the city", Patras 7 - 8 December 2018)

Tsiotsiou Vassiliki, Woody flora of urban habitats: research in Patras city, doctoral thesis, University of Patras, 2010
(https://nemertes.lis.upatras.gr/jspui/bitstream/10889/4138/1/Nimertis_Tsiotsiou(b).pdf)

Viggopoulou Ioli, In Patras: From Antiquity to Present, Kotinos: Athens, 2005
(http://hdl.handle.net/10442/13985)

https://www.gtp.gr/LocInfo.asp?InfoId=37&Code=EGRGAH20KLVKLV400&PrimeCode=EGRGAH20KLVKLV400&Level=9&PrimeLevel=9&lng=1

http://geodata.gov.gr/maps/?locale=en

https://www.eetaa.gr/metaboles/apografes/apografi_2011_rev.pdf

https://www.archaiologia.gr/blog/2016/02/01/μεταβολές-του-αστικού-τοπίου-στην-πάτ/

https://www.flightconnections.com

https://e360.yale.edu/features/kelp_seagrass_slow_ocean_acidification_netarts

Eureka, Cleaning Heavily Polluted Water At A Fraction Of The Cost: ScienceDaily, 2002 (from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081030194226.htm)

http://fourthcornernurseries.com/the-use-of-aquatic-plants-to-treat-waste-water/

http://www.biosalinity.org/salt-tolerant_plants.htm

https://www.gnoristetinellada.gr/anadromes/peloponnisos/4989-patra- mia-poli-me-makraioni-istoria

https://web.archive.org/web/20060523114110/http://classes.engr.oregonstate.edu/eecs/fall2003/ece441/groups/g12/White_Papers/Kelly.htm