The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique and Invention JAM conER ing of lived spa active sense, the fnction of mapping i lest to miro ral ‘engender the restaping of the words in which peopl ive, Wh are countless examples of authoritarian, simpli, eroncous and wets ‘ve ats of mappa, with reductive effect pon bo tizonments, I focus in thi esay upon more op Practices" These 2 actsmay emancipate potentials enrich expe ences and divers worlds. We have bean adequately cautioned abou Imapping asa means of projecting powerknowledge, but what shout mapping a a prodactve snd liberating instrument,» word-eniching agen especially inthe design and planning? time with nese and however; some inating pattern bu evaling nothing ne 1nd advocating more open-ended forms of eteativiy philoso Delewe and Felix Gusta declare: “Make a map not tracing! They concna4 aMtts CORNER ‘The Agency of Mapping as our organs pane ‘pefovmence, erate cing ‘Beecness maps ‘ieee’ measures of the world, andate aesordeda kind of benign nesrlty By contrast, ce ote fide of this analogous chara inevitable abstactess of aps the jolson, disance and codes: Propagate rundancies, mappings di past and present ones; they iaaugurate new inte often (opogzaphy. ever, tes luo the various hidden forces tha undtie lace. These nce natral processes, such a8 These surfces ate massive collection, sorting and transfer ses, eat sand lca stores; economia legit Selds upon wbich real mate sare isolated, indexed and interest, regulatory mechanisms and program placed within an assormen of relational structure, rough rendering visible mulipl and sometimes, “The analogous abstract character ofthe map surface id conditions, mapping allows fr an understand Aoubly progetve: tb ‘expression of co and projec bak a var beable function has, imeractions, mapping fiven the increased complexity and_ con Tandscape and urbaniom today cestie adeances in mapping promise ial and relationship since the Benth century ry. mapping devin and pling has “Theowghosr the went beer umderiden objgcive and ations ie and enact fur plans and decisions! Th, Surfaces are diel analogous to actual ground cond ‘hereby helping egrom prevalent tendeny to virw map acer than what they do, As with ati ss of drawings and paintings, considerations of maps as successive series of paradigmatic typer and representations overlook the of mapping. That mappings te ‘This indiference towards mappings particule puzling when one considers thatthe very basi upon which project are mained and rea: from how mape ae made. The conditions around consequence; on the com “i pechap the most formatie and creative act of any isclosing and then staging the conditions for the ‘emergence of new eas, The Agency of Mapping ar In what follows I discuss mapping a an atv agent of clr inter he vatious proceses and eects of than with what ven. By showing the world in new ways, unexpected solutions and ‘ffects may emerge. Homever,gten the portance of representational ‘echniqh inthe creative proces surprising tha whi there has een fo shortage of new dest and theories in design and pla beenso igus inl andeomeraction of new worl? A comparton berween Mercator projection of the earth's surface and Bucknsaster Fuller's Dymaxion projection reveals radically diferent sp same places, and more prise image of Baopeans and North Americans in an era of Wester politcal hegemoe: By contrat, Fall's Dymaxion Arocean World Map in any numberof diferent ways depending onthe thematice point of view The polyhedral geometry provides a ematkably flexible {ndadspive system wherein diferent locations andrions canbe placedThe gene of Mapping ny fa aa20 astes conNER link fame In this sear, minimal cartographic Bel, Caldas presents an laste geoaraphy.an open and indeterminae Bld ffgures hat earns terra incognita o an otherwise excessively mapped plane. The images sleoa commentary onthe cageike power of the mpeialzing frame: the traphiesguaze surrounds, spears and olds square, bust the sane in promise ~ promire theemancpaton of iscontens The sh things that have beer sscesvlyclasid and sructared. In Calda's image, such places are liberated through precisely the same measures that st eapered them ts have engaged creatively with cartographic techniques, planners and designers have been lest ambitious Techs "tional progress and socal reform, and these were ater complemented byvaroasstatcal, compazativesnd zoning techniques during the late sintecnth a eal tweithcenurien" Some advances in these tech rigues have ocurred over the past jo years with the nse of seit and The Agency of Mapping sr remote seasng capabilities, together with new computer technologies dem earogranhy espe tobeleeocetoprpher se an and landscape planning and 120f elasfeation: the maps lationship ently quoted in esays on mapping" Not ony does the tale beau ly capture the cartographic imapination, i ges to the hears of a and epeset mapand Tasure youitdoes neaey a5 isthe map an inferior secondary representation of terior but etiledandifelike the map sees tobe, the more redundant or unnec sary if beames, Unlike paintings oF photographs, which have thevert Borges able to prod the map whose vessigs subsist here and d that this revereal does not mean thatthe worl is fcatcly more chan a as simlaram, bt at throu playing, Be desis possessed bythe imagination tha they ate neither fly part ofthe sel fly external, Emphasizing she cre for Baudeilard the map has cometo both precede and consuct ley of tying to make any distinction ‘The Agency of Mapping a3 rd primacy to either, And, whereas of liference with gad inythen, asin concepes suchas landscape or ip thing exter sre’ fr our apprehension; ater copied, in which we do not take prt. Seen ature buts re-creation of het.” Ths med fully deserted by subjecsiey consid is precisely what makes a map morea project than a mer’ empiial decripoon. The si widely held assumprion tha maps are ete, liearan tol, of es i they represent, and lacking in power to only mie ‘While contemporary scholars have begun to demonstrate how even thea anins CORNER ‘offered by such an emancipated eve play ‘Whereas th architectural and planning arts ought be leading suck anexpleration, they aes lagelyentenched with the ools of thought pissed down from Ealighenment and modernise paradigms: ortho ‘apy, axonometry, perspect ‘imaster plan governs, while mapping, and alts potenial fr engaging and evolving local inicacy,selegated tothe elaively ‘marking location, nmentorying resources and jus referer moreth ton is made of innocence, neta Tnatead, che mapis rat employed asa means of ing’ new projects, ellecuely re-working wha already exists. Thus, the Procees of mapping, roger with thei wid formation and ale mda, afield of connections, relationships, extensions and poten “other places, including all he maps, drawing, iden, reerences swords and places that are invoked doing the making of ape today is 4 muleplictous and complex afi, comprising * pot ‘The Agony of Mapping ay es things hich may appeae incongruous tbo harbour enormous potential for the uno creative view of mappingin th contest of achtecaal landscape and turban produionis rendered alehe more relevant bythe changing nate fof spatial and temporal structures invodays word. Evens secur with such speed and complesity that nothing eemains certain Large nombers26 astes CORNER ‘The Agony of Mapping a ina wood whet local economies and tlobal ones, through which efe Eontegienct. Surrounded by me that enakes the far are tightly bound into 1 argued by Rem Koolhaas in his dscusion of the those deny less ares tha ar their complete lack of tery o turban planner fom a whole series of conventional obligrions, models tnd assumptions. "The sronger ie Shing from 5p Public leis now scheduled and according place while the circulation and migratory workfore. Ten Egat Asi in mater of month, seemingly constructed out according to modes of agreement that ae ther democratic nor an, merely expedient And finally, pechaps, the near-cong th the Genome andthe Universe the end of can tnd coherence. Sach fantasti play across the woes various surfaces ‘characterized not only by a fru hetrogenity bu also by concep ‘ements coming loos from a rational mooring. The boundaries tis have become so blared, i ac, pat ina cyber-wodd co distinguish be information and whats concrete, what isfact and whats et ‘that espace and what actions are becom: “Mapping snd contemporary spatial design techniques more genetally| ingof great landscapes chan the have yer to ind adequate ways to engage ce jects and wrfaces hartter of time and space le separated fom the events that itis repeserted through another mediam, every time it sueroundings change every ime new aflations are forged. This ax David Harvey bas srgud, planer and sand desgnersplayinga tine minor ole" He Los Angeles ould beat ch nd modern 3 Gty tot everyone may share ew and productive forms of soe rangement ace volving without the ad, divction or involvement of planners snd ‘Sesigners Moreover, Banham suggests that to assume this isa bad and Aetezminismand more about reshap negligent hing sco adopt a somewhat rave andi ‘a fundamen othe contra 1 of the things hat contain tem"2 atzs commen sm of both the modernist wopia and he an "pet rbanisn’, Harvey ages that the of urban processes cannot be contained within a estheting, fon and engagement acknowledgement of the maker own part The Agency of Mapping ay With the catographic process. In seadying the development of spatial Actions recede concepsons orden th outcome of he as oad ing, Ths mpping precedes the map sot dere tat itcanno propery ‘one objectiestodneve (by scing) meaning pial and tele tual shape onanaationsin hele tare th ‘isn ti they ave been mapped method for searching for nach mening sensible mn of systemataedoutsidenes, by tl created nthe process of mapping in eight be schematned a consisting "The elds the continue surface, folded et)-The design and setup ofthe fel is perhaps one of the most ‘eative ats in mapping for 38a prior system of ongaizaion ic will20 antes CORNER ably condition how and wha observations are made ad presented bining one sytem wih another ae ‘cen and how these ndings are organized. Obriows ular, closedystem Als, a eld that breaks with conventions more that is mote habia and ted with other Byars in the Sel. Ax described abore, different ld ferent acrangement ofthe erat, revealing orogens. ichard Long foreampe who has made sro connect height Mer for example, revealing stent arose agen eran, Upon the same map bowers is ether connect al south-facing copes in sequel {ofindatange of wet conditions hat index of water Shrecergns In tdlton geome and spatial pling xo" “omcandgenalopalprcedts of relating, indexing and namingcan ‘Sten be eee pode in ovealing net sructares, Such tec tigues ay pode ght that have both uy and map Shber can plotng ena an atv ad crete smerpreaon ofthe ono! and engender net se of pouliy Pog deewingot of ratoalurcrurr To plot at is sense, plotting produces 2 The Agoneyof Mapping a ‘Thus we can identify thee exzetal operations in mapping fs, he «reaton ef eld the setng of rales and he establishment of stm; Second, he extraction, isolation or deterioration” of parts and ofthe pacts, AC each sap, choices th the constuing and constructing of the ‘operations df from the mute, mpiial dock ‘mentation of tetain so often assumed hy cartographers, Daft “The Siuaionists were a Eixopean group of atiss andl asvss in she 196. They aimed somehow to dere any form of whae they (Guy Debord, a ey Situaionis theorist, mada series of maps, or'ps cho-geographic gues’ of Pars These were made ater Debord had walked aimlessly around thestretsand alleys the there whereer he fancy took him. Recording thee wouldcurypand reconfigure a standard Pace erours The esleant map cllected subj petceptiony eather than a synoptic total form of cogaive mapping than mimetic description ofthe styscape, Debord's maps located his own ply and representation within the rece sive nooks ad cranies of every life. Such atv Beatie knot the deriesor the dream ike dit though the cy, mapping slernatie itineraries nd subverting dominant readings and authontatan ene, ‘Whar is nteresting about the deriv isthe way in which che contingents the ephemsal the vague, fogciveevenfulness of spatial experienceae panes connen becomes foregrounded in place of the dominant, ocular gaze As de CCerteau writes: The Agency of Mapping a this egard, Fowus founder George Macias organized a seis of Free 2976 hich incaded an «Richard Long shares litle of che politcal and Which mapping directs and eases a parca set of derive froma given milieu Butof couse, thereat the ‘ecoedings that come ater the proceedings and these ace nither pase Day Cireleof Ground relationship simply by performance, reorded chin he othe ines an Figures in Lona’ veces ts fest through ts 4 cteular fame, The ce ‘work, ie nt wile on the groua4 astrs conser The Ageneyof Mapping a : contemporary cumstances, not from outside and abone as master plan) bat from pr seithin the ery contours and fabric of poi: teal and in The field che extracts and the plssings ate Played out ot only upon the surface ofthe map but als upon the ps cal eran sl leaving an entre corpus of Layering = Aeatvely new developmentia che design of large-scale urban and land scape fabrics hasbeen ‘layering’. This voles the supeimposton of various independent layees ane upon the ote fo produce + heteroge- surface. Architects Bernard. Tih hs these peoetsdsmance the programmatic aa aspects ofthe pack im cour ndnof antec gegen fe sonore pays lancer ope eee rie inhumane bce egy sea enc now a ‘S701 OA WALKING WH AN MAGNA CCL HEE WDE ee Cammook INLAND sme pars appear. Thesesulingsrocure is complex fabri without ent, Ierarhy o single organ eden fom Sse Day Ce of Ground one of multislepats and eee fon the map Like a frame o gril, the ctl is ‘elation co aber. Such richness and complexity cannot be gained by ‘imaginary gure tht holds otherwise inchoate things na feld of rela limited scope ofthe single master orm, pois towards various ‘roup hierishicaliae and cn beexercied pon 4p order ames superenposed o ‘only chrough the ens of the game or rules of use that apply to tive agency make them of course, the possibly of “yb smapmakecs. They are openly conitie, mental maps rendering ne too aot ony may things occ i lnnagsof space andelaionship, Moreover the dif permite eriigue ot ‘may also mee as new event srture fs in any ikancousy side by ade, bo they dren's gamesae ates conser The Ageneyof Mapping 29 anal Soondinates Game-boant A thi thematic development of mapping in conerpo othe notions of "These are concenThe Agencyof Mappingthe he largescontexc ofthe Black Sea basin with espect ‘nd physical changes tha ave affected the city’s iy the Black Seais large-scale objec tat eats, idenefestion, writes Bunschoten “bar important its also “dead sca acs for international concern that engenders kindof operational power and erestes the possibility of linking global ‘conomy fo urban planning propositions wichn the context of eultural cl planning Inother words, throughsituating thee Tanger geographical and poigcl-economi region ~ linking Bucharest swith Rusia, Cental Asia, Wester Europe and the Middle Ease Bunschoren develops cartographic stage’ upon which varius ine tind agents can be ented and brought together for matal bene "Ta catfy the process furter, Banschoten eal sel-organiational layers are superimposed, The Agency of Mapping 4) there are reveled a umber of vertical correspondences, of “stepping are conceied by Bunchoten to permit deision tz) and empiial prerentation of resources seiminately derived from the sources and epesetedin the form of eacings; rather, datas knowingly lesed and strayed according to local knowledge of and dex pt self These maps areinformedby a kindof sect rf nd peculiar places sand indinal In this way the Sld-workerimapper gains emaably ‘tied and socially colourful sense of local dynamics andesite Moreare game board mappings more purposefully active and thetor cal han the passivity and neutrality astumed by a GIS enginesr. The fame-bourd mapper exercises shrewd judgement in designing the map rare incorporating snd engapingthevarows imaginations of ll she ‘relevant artis In devising the map (constructing field femes, naming 1450 on), the designer “sets up" the ert predetermine or prefig- same bod ina very specif way Sethe ontcome b inichoens approach to the re ‘he Siaatons.ae panes conNER urbanism. is rsognized rmusebe engaged and artfully ein Son to evolving and opemended spa le processes of urbanization terminal choreographed in rel Rbisome Openended proces form nd Guatan,theehizome connects any pointtoany other point... that nether bepnning nor end, but aleays 3 middle (aie) from supp fer i thi say, Deleuze and Guatari draw an ence racing belong to iearchicaleytems of onde that ulimately nt any hope of innovation = ll of tree logic lope of tracing and reproduction. By contrast, the ini ‘Gel zor dos ‘and mumorphosedy and with what oker interconnection. The argument emphases probing practices of pretation that extend previos products of culture (maps and land ‘eapes for instance) towards more diverse and lnerconacted fields of The Agency of Mapping as osibiliy thei becoming” bodied-orh chroogh various att of map Pingand lating through a orm of systematic montage, where ml lays ate iscorporsted asa sytherc compose 'A sefl example of mukpl and inclusive sythesis of comple infor ‘nation she French engncer Chaves Joseph Minard's narrative map of the fate of Napoleon's amy in Rusia du ‘Moving fom the the sie ofthe army 2 the ie ofthe semy ered reaches Moscow and temperature readings The army ropeo suriors Mina’ graphic describes acomplexand eagic humanjars conNER ening ad eloguent way: But more than hw places on the and have come hips previeelydrongh the vector of an crest. naa map very elegantly sytsies x complex amalgam of facts the army the locstions and times of weather ad te shape-forms would change i ‘map dei ‘arth same time, however, Minas daascape i far fom th zomate pane of consistency outlined above because itis closed system. only dep the fcethae are relevant cts ara thercfore be eead ina lines ay Thee isa lear intention “Communication in this map together witha sequen feading, common iiners cle ite and open. Indeed, “repesen rather, mht combination of things that rojetions and elects, rather Hike a ray; diverse uses and iy endless The Agency of Mapping a Ei ey Ls had popu fue on the one hand nd laa processes sacha capital ows or ‘culsyugealpatemson te cer insomes! myown mapingre Tregator: for instance, the USGS map i eat a8 3 place names or geopraphi ips (the shape ofboth a turbine ‘ar and 4 windshadow) and combined with a topogeaphical sectionamesCores The Agency of Mapping a at depicts the mountain range, ae temperature, st-presnute and wind velocity chats. Together, the compost parts ography territories eat of 3» Anges while aio staying the various shaping forceandc underzitd the genesis of hissill eving landscape. Thee te he poly-oriented ape of ay radio elexcope he various ld plot of contout farm plain. In meriealcootdiate, grid nee ‘planes of consistency’ that lowing for suggestive read vnmon tape and landscapes ships250 ates conNER The Agency of Mapping as isa characterise of mapping that ought to be sed co-opted and used asthe means by which etcal projects ean se a author ‘the apparent rgoue of objective analysis and mand order of| logical argument that posseses the greatest efcacy ia «plural Mapping. 2s de Provides a wefl model for mapping ‘ban planning and Srexcensive and shizomate set of Beld operat ‘ndvanors ide cndons ee sro planning. reasoning is also int ier aljectiveand ace senae that mappings ae not ansparer nd landscape plan or passive devices of spatial measurement ad description, They ‘ons has fled fee instcod extremely opaque, imaginatne, operational instruments and of cule general ‘Although drawn rom measured obsermations inthe word, mappings ae inadequacr of techniques an either depictions no presentations fu mental contracts, eds hat therich {hale a efx change In Gecriing and visalzing obese den fees maps se the sage or fore wore Mapping aways already gency imprnsation, enor proeatnthemaking ‘Siem the complex ature of ae capi if rapes ewetlly sublet, interpreta and ftional com vith the need array of competing iter groupe and suc of fas const hat infer deans, scons and ult coming ver more difcl fru designers and planers op ‘ales erally hen why noembrace the protound fac of mapping the development of ces and eionsteyond scnographico en and shaping new ears? Why notembace theft thatthe ronmental amelorson, There ivan even and lenge sor otal infinite expat of mapping find and found new conditions ee Fgh enable moe socal engaging ads of exchange within lager ether ino shortage of here snd ‘cu? The notion that mapping sold be rextited oem {Gcuing and aay diminishes he profound socal and cent the cartographic ener, And ye the power of objective aa ling consens and representing thing co be abandoned fo esom subj ods ses a cris of what odo than hous is pecsly athe sratepi and rhetorical level of vale this would be bothsame-hoard and chizome represent only @ ie rles in design and chnigues presuppose ness ares ~the role of mapping wl become lessone of racing and resracingalready known words and more one of procedures. Mapy exploratory charac Withinitsvirtal paces new tetitores and prospects ou of pervasite yet dormant condition,References