LAB 4 : WEEK 1

Roman Urbs

• 2 axis :  across north to south and west to east
• Blocks
• The forum where everyone meets
• Surrounded by walls : defense and limits.
• City – state – power – walls

Urban / Rural

• Relationship between the city and countryside. Countryside provides resources and city controls and protect them.

Urban rural difference is disappearing. Now more like an area, part of the same wool but different degrees of connection in the global network.

The urban as (nothing but ) the contemporary globalized condition.

Not what is the urban, but how is the urban ? = modes of urban analysis and representation.

PROJECT 1 :

( Concepts are tools – ex is a packaging of chips in a deserted island a sign of urbanisation of that island ? )

WEEK 2

MAPS

• Maps : too tell a story. Takes position and frames territory.
• Nicaragua invasion : google maps to blame, condition of war created by google bug.
• Axonometric view : Axonometric projection is a type of orthographic projection used for creating a pictorial drawing of an object, where the lines of sight are perpendicular to the plane of projection, and the object is rotated around one or more of its axes to reveal multiple sides
• Orthographic view :  a means of representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions. It is a form of parallel projection, in which all the projection lines are orthogonal to the projection plane,^[2] resulting in every plane of the scene appearing in affine transformation on the viewing surface. The obverse of an orthographic projection is an oblique projection, which is a parallel projection in which the projection lines are not orthogonal to the projection plane.
• 18th century mall influenced by the age of enlightment.
• Map of Rome : radical contrast b&w between public and private space.
• Simplicity is key : map is meant for you to navigate, so you need a sense of how to navigate.
• Haussman : corrects the geometry of Paris by creating cuts. New geometry of the city. Control of crowds, create new barricades to avoid new revolutions.
• Mapping is a claim of power over the territory depicted. Sets power relations. Counter-mapping is a reclaim of power over the territory depicted.
• Statistics are the tools of the state.
• The naked city : psychogreography. Geography based on the affects of the city. Psychogeography describes the effect of a geographical location on the emotions and behaviour of individuals

WEEK 3

• A map is a representation of a set of relations.
• Representation is never neutral.
• United Nations logo : center in north pole, so southern countries are marginalized.
• Upside down regional map : southern countries are at the top and we don’t see country borders.
• A map can also be projective : charting the territory to be covered by a project.