The Form, Style, and Use of Cartographic Visualisations in European Spatial Planning: Examples from England and Germany

Abstract

IntroductionIn most traditions of spatial planning in Europe, planning policy documents involve a symbolic representation of the territory in the form of icons, diagrams, and maps. Cartographic visualisation, or the conceptualisation of the territory, is an integral part of spatial planning. Drawn images are used to support verbal statements of policies, or they directly express policies (Faludi, 1996). There are examples of cartographic visualisations, notably the metaphor of the`Blue Banana' (RECLUS, 1989), that have been very successful in raising awareness and understanding about complex spatial development trends.However, there are significant national and regional differences in the use of cartographic visualisations in strategic spatial planning in European countries, which can cause problems in multilateral strategic spatial planning processes, where different planning cultures come together to discuss policy options for a transnational territory (Zonneveld, 2000).This paper is concerned with these differences in visualising spatial policy in European countries in the context of European spatial development. First, the types, roles, and functions of cartographic visualisations in strategic spatial planning are discussed, with particular attention given to the emerging European agenda on spatial planning. The second part of the paper investigates the differences in visualisation in regional planning in two European countries, England and Germany, in order to uncover some of the main differences in planning traditions in representing spatial policies. The regional spatial strategies are analysed according to two main issues: the interdependence between written text and visual representation of spatial policies

Regional design: Discretionary approaches to regional planning in The Netherlands

“…Authors such as Kunzmann (1996), Faludi (1996), Neuman (19962000), Dühr (2004Dühr ( , 2006, Zonneveld (2008), Thierstein & Förster (2008), Van Duinen (2004 and De Jonge (2009) acknowledge that planning images are powerful media in decision making processes on high levels of scale and in complex organisational settings. Amongst these authors there is agreement that their influence can be attributed to the fact that images are open for multiple interpretations and thus perform as 'institution builders', as Neuman (1996, p. 293) labels them.…”

“…When spatial representations refer to values and norms, they are used to note and promote a perceived importance of specific planning objects or more general conceptual ideas about spatial organization. Many of such representations, frequently named visions, gained over recent years and in the context of spatial planning academic attention (Van Duinen, 2004;Dühr, 2004;Thierstein & Förster, 2008). Also Moll (1991) assigns representations that note 'the objectives of a plan in its final form' to an own category.…”

Evaluation of the Cartographical Quality of Urban Plans by Eye-Tracking

“…Based on these methods, Dühr [4,27] introduced a method of map analysis for strategic spatial plans in Germany, England, and Denmark. Because neither Pickles nor Harley provided a detailed list of criteria for analysis, Dühr [31] suggested three categories for a comparative analysis of cartographic representation: the level of abstraction, the level of complexity, and the use of associative colors and symbols "on the map".…”

“…This lab-based design was used in the presented case study with urban plans. Dühr [4,27] described several approaches to analyzing cartographic visualization in urban planning ( [10,[28][29][30]). Pickles [29] suggested an approach to map analysis not unlike discourse analysis, which treats maps as an expanded concept of text.…”

“…Cartographic visualization, or the conceptualization of territory, is an integral part of spatial planning [4]. Dühr [4] stated that not much research has been undertaken on the use of cartography in planning. Jarvis [5] even commented that planning theory hardly touches "drawing" at all.…”