Essay: Critical cartography: a deconstruction of three planning maps (50% of total assessment, 1,500 words)
The aim of this assessment is for students to apply the ‘critical cartography’ skills they learn in the lectures to three planning related maps of their choosing.
These maps should be interesting examples of how spaces and places are represented and used by planners, developers or interest groups in and around
the development process. The key thing is for you attempt to ‘deconstruct’ the underlying purposes and the power relations of these maps. For example:
Whose view of space and place is this? Whose views are excluded? What is the map trying to do?
The learning outcome we are after is that you think critically about how spatial information is produced and communicated:
· Who has produced this map and what kind of agencies or individuals?
· What is the purpose of this map and whom is the target audience?
· What strategies are being used by the producers of map to convey their message?
· What does the map tell us about dominant/less dominant power relations and the politics of persuasion?
