This weeks reading allowed me to re-consider the traditional birds eye view of experiencing a place via satellite imagery and shift towards the process of mapping as a form of relaying place identity.  In the James Corner reading, mapping closely aligns with the systems thinking of eco-district development where he writes, “the interrelationships amongst things in space, as well as the effects that are produced through such dynamic interactions, are becoming of greater significance for intervening in urban landscapes than the solely compositional arrangement of objects and surfaces.”  A map of the dynamic unseen systems can reveal those forces that influence the development of place.  In the same respect, independent highly visible elements can be equally compelling when mapped as a system.  For example, a map of carved pumpkins in a neighborhood reveals the densities of civic engagement.  Similar to high resolution satellite imagery, photography is another form of recording that is susceptible to an over-saturation of information. By limiting and directing content through a specific lens, photography, like mapping, can be a creative form of story telling.  The MIT press photo journals were compelling examples of how photography is an evocative means of recording place identity.

For me the difficulty has always been in mapping those ephemeral qualities of space in relation to geography.  Movement and the passage of time for example are elements that when positioned in one form can easily loose their dynamic qualities.  Some of the resources for this weeks readings were very helpful in providing examples of potential maps.  Perhaps I can employ the techniques of layering, drifting, game board, rhizome, framing, scaling, orientation, projection indexing, and coding to help advance my mapping process.  A few ideas that I had for maps of the Lloyd District include:

• the big pipe
• the watershed
• the foodshed
• the major industries
• the temporal uses of space
• the physical and psychological discontinuities
• the proposed bike routes and green streets