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| Semester | fall semester 2018 |
| Course frequency | Every fall sem. |
| Lecturers | Giulia Scotto (giulia.scotto@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Nowadays, professional cartographers and geographers are challenged to represent an unstable and globalized world in which visual images have an unprecedented communicative significance. The current technical, political and cultural environment imposes a critical rethinking of their discipline and the introduction of new forms of cartographic representation able to capture how spaces are produced, transformed and inhabited. Maps are ubiquitous in everyday life. In order to understand their power, complexities and ambiguities we need to develop a basic “cartographic literacy”. By questioning their scientific neutrality and interrogating the decision-making process that determines their final appearance, this course explores the epistemological and interpretative challenge that reading and producing maps poses. Far from being the objective reproduction of the earth surface, the act of mapping is a creative moment of knowledge production that involves observation, conceptualization and graphic translation. At the same time, it activates a deeper, analytic and subjective way of looking at things, a more profound understanding of spaces and of their structures. Graphically conveying spatial information calls for a series of decisions concerning the scale of representation, the framing of an area, the selection of existing or projected features and the coding of these information. The main focus of the course will be the representation of past, present, evolving, and projected urban spaces and urban landscapes of infrastructure. In addition to the historical challenges of mapping, students will be asked to overcome the fixity of maps and creatively propose strategies to represent processes, flows, activities and ephemeral uses of space. In addition to short lectures and readings about theories of mapping, students will gain practical skills through the individual development of weekly assignments to conduct in class and at home. Students’ works will be collectively reviewed and discussed in class. The first half of the course will provide a basic knowledge of mapping technique and practical skills while the second half will be dedicated to the design and production of graphic material required by “Highway Africa” research studio. |
| Learning objectives | The goal of this course is to practically and conceptually learn to represent urban spaces and territories through maps, drawings, diagrams and collages. Over the course of the semester, students will be taught to map urban and infrastructural spaces and activities through different techniques, from hand drawings to the most common graphic design software (InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop). No skills in hand drawing or previous experience with the abovementioned digital software is required |
| Admission requirements | This course is only open for first year MA in Critical Urbanisms students. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
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No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Module: Projects and Processes of Urbanization (Master's degree program: Critical Urbanisms) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Urban Studies |