Design Observer :: Join the Discussion http://places.designobserver.com/feature/everything-sings-maps-for-a-narrative-atlas/30358/ en-us Design Observer Group 2011-10-18T04:49:12-05:00 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0 http://places.designobserver.com/feature/everything-sings-maps-for-a-narrative-atlas/30358/#comments 2011-10-18T04:49:12-05:00
Richard E Nisbett, in his book, “The Geography of thought”, claims that the perspectives of an individual are shaped by the society she/ he resides in. Although Nisbett mentions that the understanding of different cultures, sub-cultures and the societies attached to those cultures, allow an individual to comprehend the multifaceted nature of a community, it is interesting that, according to Dennis Wood, “When you look really hard at a neighborhood, it’s impossible to miss how uncertain its edges are. This is because neighborhoods aren’t about being distinctive, or rather; they’re not especially about being distinctive. The most important thing about neighborhoods is how similar to the rest of the city they are, how undifferentiated, how ordinary.”

Wood takes cartography to a symbolic level that brings out the hidden aesthetics of the city that go unnoticed in the case of a map that is merely topographical or symbol-based. Rather than mapping a neighborhood or a city for its rigid and tangible structure, Wood tries to, in many ways, track and document the narrative of that place; its fragrance, its emotions and its interactions. In doing so, he is allowing the observer of the map to realize the neighborhood or city in a more holistic level rather than just a navigational or instructional plane.

Wood’s dream is an amalgamation of the hardened perspectives of a people, in a social context, into an argument that is presenting a city as what it ‘is’ rather than what it is defined as by longitudes and latitudes. He illustrates the culture, traditions and human activity, pertinent to a particular place, through his maps.
The article demonstrates this idea that people tend to imagine or see a place that they have heard about. The relationship that each individual makes in order to create that mental picture is based on memory; maybe the name of a place or a story they heard.

Wood has categorized and singled out certain aspects of society that bear relevance to the framework of that neighborhood. Also, personalizing the elements of a map make it easier for the observer to recognize and remember.

Everything about this form of mapping is idiosyncratic. The Maps breathe life and document stories central to that particular city.

[David Mckenzie, Denise Dsouza, Rahul Chako, Raj Palan, Rigzin Tsewang, Vinayak Nagesh]

Students of Srishti School Of Art Design & Technology

]]> http://places.designobserver.com/feature/everything-sings-maps-for-a-narrative-atlas/30358/#comments 2011-10-18T04:12:57-05:00 The conventional approach to looking at map is very different from the technique used here. Also, mapping things like dog barks, fences, reflects the neighbourhood, it's culture and it's people.
After looking at your experiment we consciously realised that this is how we really navigate through the streets on a day to day basis.]]> http://places.designobserver.com/feature/everything-sings-maps-for-a-narrative-atlas/30358/#comments 2011-10-18T04:04:59-05:00
We’ve been discussing the things we do as social beings, things that are common across the world, despite our cultural differences. For example, we feel, we gather, we have faith, etc. What we’ve understood from your work is that you’ve tried to capture and explain these common threads.

As you have used cities as physical boundaries and attempted to go beyond them with your maps, we believe it is important, as designers, to go beyond cultural differences that might behave like the streets that kept coming up in your maps and instead explore and make use of the commonalities. But having said that, it is equally important to be sensitive to culture while designing specifically for one.
]]> http://places.designobserver.com/feature/everything-sings-maps-for-a-narrative-atlas/30358/#comments 2011-10-18T04:03:26-05:00 We don't understand the personality of a place through regular maps.
Through your study, we have realised, maps have been elevated to a position where they are more connected to the people, culture and daily routines of society.

With the world becoming smaller every second,cultures are intermingling and the importance of the physical space is reducing as compared to the vibes or the atmosphere of the space.There are certain quirks in a society that define them and when a newcomer enters that space,his behaviour is altered by the existing norms.Using maps that define spaces rather than landscapes, enable us to see these subtle behavioural changes we normally overlook.For instance,"Sidewalk Graffitti" and "Police Calls" reiterate what we have said above as they display more than the paint on the walls or the 911 phone calls,instead.they give us an insight into their lives of the people in Boylan Heights.

]]> http://places.designobserver.com/feature/everything-sings-maps-for-a-narrative-atlas/30358/#comments 2011-10-18T04:03:19-05:00
We’ve been discussing the things we do as social beings, things that are common across the world, despite our cultural differences. For example, we feel, we gather, we have faith, etc. What we’ve understood from your work is that you’ve tried to capture and explain these common threads.

As you have used cities as physical boundaries and attempted to go beyond them with your maps, we believe it is important, as designers, to go beyond cultural differences that might behave like the streets that kept coming up in your maps and instead explore and make use of the commonalities. But having said that, it is equally important to be sensitive to culture while designing specifically for one.
]]> http://places.designobserver.com/feature/everything-sings-maps-for-a-narrative-atlas/30358/#comments 2011-10-18T04:02:34-05:00 The identity of a city is made up by the identity of the neighbourhood, which in turn can again be broken down into the identity of each element in that space, including the animate and inanimate elements. The culture of a place is the reaction of the people to the place and the reaction of the space to the people. For example, a regular street can transform into a living, breathing neighborhood, with its own identity and human touch, for an observer, if he/she were to understand that say, the streetlight on the opposite side tends to go off every 2 hours.
In reference to Clotaire Rapaille’s The Culture Code, any learning has to have an emotional aspect to be retained properly. The author’s specifications to map out the otherwise ordinary things help them find out the emotional aspects of an area thus enabling better retention.
In your (Denis Wood’s) lens of perception, the essence of the place is based not on the basis of the people, their societies and communities, not even necessarily the accurate representation of the physical space, but is determined by cultural markers, where the place is experienced, not seen.
]]> http://places.designobserver.com/feature/everything-sings-maps-for-a-narrative-atlas/30358/#comments 2011-10-18T04:01:50-05:00 The above article talks about how the author wanted design students to eliminate the streets from the map. He referred to streets as an irreducible element which came forward irrespective of how much you wanted it to recede into the background. In our heads we formed a relation between the above lines and to the cultural diversities as barriers, about which we read in the ‘geography of thought’. No matter how forward our thinking or how much we want to overlook the diversity, is it a factor that invariably comes forward one time or the other. The coming forward of this distinctiveness of different cultures is often a positive factor as different cultures and societies bring together a diversified range of ideas and skills. This assortment contributes to heterogeneous society which leads to a global progress.
Quoting the article on narrative maps, “When you look really hard at a neighbourhood, it’s impossible to miss how uncertain its edges are. This is because neighbourhoods aren’t about being distinctive, or rather, they’re not especially about being distinctive. The most important thing about neighbourhoods is how similar to the rest of the city they are, how undifferentiated, how ordinary. Neighbourhoods are part of the city. They’re most of it. What neighbourhoods do is make the city real. “
These different cultures and societies are like the neighbourhoods that form a city. Each distinct and unique as the other come together to create the world. They work together to make sure it thrives and progresses.
They come together to make real.
]]> http://places.designobserver.com/feature/everything-sings-maps-for-a-narrative-atlas/30358/#comments 2011-10-18T03:58:56-05:00 http://places.designobserver.com/feature/everything-sings-maps-for-a-narrative-atlas/30358/#comments 2011-10-18T03:58:26-05:00 Once a place is inhabited, it is no longer the layout of the place, but what the elements in the layout mean to the inhabitants that describes the place and gives meaning to the life it begins to possess. India is an absolutely diverse, busy and vibrant place. For an onlooker, a map of its structure would not tell him what india means to its people, but a map of the very elements that give to her personality would convey her spirit just fine. Maps can help describe a society, a community, a neighbourhood to an outsider. An indian neighbourhood would therefore show its existence through all of its life, the people, the sounds, the mood and maybe even the cows!]]> http://places.designobserver.com/feature/everything-sings-maps-for-a-narrative-atlas/30358/#comments 2011-10-18T03:52:52-05:00 http://places.designobserver.com/feature/everything-sings-maps-for-a-narrative-atlas/30358/#comments 2011-10-18T03:47:07-05:00 http://places.designobserver.com/feature/everything-sings-maps-for-a-narrative-atlas/30358/#comments 2011-10-18T03:31:54-05:00 We are Second year foundation students from Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, and we are currently exploring Perception. So far we have looked at the biological and psychological perspective, and are presently looking at the cultural perspective. We are responding to your blog as part of our assignment, which looks at the factors that dictate our perception – the environment and early socialization.
]]> http://places.designobserver.com/feature/everything-sings-maps-for-a-narrative-atlas/30358/#comments 2011-10-18T03:01:43-05:00 http://places.designobserver.com/feature/everything-sings-maps-for-a-narrative-atlas/30358/#comments 2011-10-15T23:11:26-05:00