The Cartographer's Dilemma

Lorens Holm, Paul Guzzardo

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

    Abstract

    The city is quickening. We hover between built space and media places. Place making that takes no heed of the knowledge environment is no longer sustainable. In the era of pervasive computing we need better maps to manage the built environment. The Cartographer's Dilemma proposes a new place making action plan for a withering public sphere. We need to develop new epistemic assemblages -street probes -for navigating alandscape of space and information. The city as site and form of knowledge begins with Patrick Geddes, the evolutionist/planner who celebrated the Greek polis, who was a pivotal link in an intellectual lineage that extends from Darwin to contemporary media theorists. With projects like the Outlook Tower and the Cities Exhibition, Geddes left behind a tool kit on synthesis, gear to map sites and record knowledge, and assemble pIaces where mapping persists. He saw the city as an evolving search engine, a tableau you drifted through, synthesizing as you move. For Geddes, you became a citizen when you glimpse the future and humanize it Mindful of Geddes -and wedged between a data space and a hard place -this paper will explore how place makers can begin to rethink the neighbourhood enclave and reprogram them as precincts for knowledge creation and creative action. This paper uses Geddes' work on the city to rethink the implications of the digital environment for the space we call Civic. It recalls projects in the UK context, that address this space as an archive of knowledge and identity. The Cartographers Dilemma is relevant for the re-cabled megalopolis that will need strategies for capitalising on this status. It will argue for a new definition of the sustainable city, by projecting the urban planning theories of Patrick Geddes onto the evolving 21 st century media environment.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings SB10 Amman
    Subtitle of host publicationSustainable Architecture and Urban Development, 12 July 2010-14 July 2010
    EditorsSteffen Lehmann, Husam Al Waer, Jamal Al-Qawasmi
    Place of PublicationAmman
    PublisherCSAAR Press
    Pages419-433
    Number of pages15
    Volume4
    ISBN (Print)9789957540036
    Publication statusPublished - 2010
    Event2nd International Conference on Sustainable Architecture and Urban Development - Amman, Jordan
    Duration: 12 Jul 201014 Jul 2010

    Conference

    Conference2nd International Conference on Sustainable Architecture and Urban Development
    Abbreviated titleSAUD 2010
    Country/TerritoryJordan
    CityAmman
    Period12/07/1014/07/10
    OtherThe Seventh International Conference of The Centre for the Study of Architecture in the Arab Region

    Keywords

    • MAP
    • Game
    • Digital Media
    • Urbanism
    • Civics
    • Patrick Geddes
    • Sustainable Community

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'The Cartographer's Dilemma'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this