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