Crafting maps as both aesthetic objects and as empirical evidence is important – their form, the composition, artistic license, the capturing of the information, the spatial relationships between form and data, the color application and lighting, and their metaphorical relationship between the data type and presentation. (…)
How can the abstract forces (urban phenomena) shaping urban life be rendered artistically, spatially and informatively in the form of alternative “maps” which represent urban dynamics – urban dynamics not usually accessible to urban designers or the urban dweller? The balance between the aesthetics (the art) and the empirical evidence (the data) is fused together to establish a new breed of multi- dimensional maps, termed “map-landscapes.” These hybrid maps combine the creativity, the logic and the spatial qualities, revealing the invisibles of the city. They are rendered in a manner that offers deeper insights into the urban space. These map-landscapes become tools which can steer and influence the urban design process. They grant additional readings to the city space inspired by data and driven by a creative force, similar to the Evolution drawings by Ferriss. Using new and alternative modes of graphic display, these maps express otherwise unseen urban data – “exposing” the city. An image of the city that has artistic merits attracts its viewers with its seductive qualities and is likely to inspire immediate reactions. In an attempt to inspire better built forms, new modes of representation are proposed. Gauging the extent to which a scheme is capable of manifesting those invisible urban forces which define the essence of a city also determines the usability and value of its mode of representation.
In short, aesthetically pleasing mapping engages the cognitive faculties of the onlooker to an extent that perfunctory and visually unappealing mapping does not. Imagine manifesting the city’s phenomena – “invisible forces” including land values, areas under public surveillance, hours of operations, population density, etc. What shape will they take? With the new urban forms represented as images, would they become guides into the city in the form of new maps? Could these images provide a means for more intelligent urban design by revealing the city’s hidden potentials? How will they be manifested?
Nadia Amoroso, The Exposed City. Mapping the urban invisibles (2010)
Eric Fisher, Locals and Tourists #2 (GTWA #1): New York (2010)
Header: Illustration of the Hugh Ferriss book, The Metropolis of Tomorrow (1929)
landscape theory 