Tracing postrepresentational visions of the city: representing the unrepresentable Skateworlds of Tyneside

Abstract

In any visualisation of the city more is left unseen than made visible. Contemporary visualisations of the city are increasingly influenced by quantification, and thus anything which cannot be quantified is hidden. In contrast, we explore the use of 'lo-fi', doodled, participatory maps made by skateboarders in Tyneside, England, as a means to represent their cityscape. Drawing on established work an skateboarding and recent developments in cartography, we argue that skateboarders understand the city from a postrepresentational perspective. Such a framing presents a series of challenges to map their worlds which we explore through a processual account of our mapmaking practice. In this process we chart how skateboarders' mappings became part of a more significant interplay of performance, identity, visualisation, and exhibition. The paper makes contributions to the emerging field of postrepresentational cartography and argues that its processual focus provides useful tools to understand how visions of the city are produced.

Places of urban disorder? Exposing the hidden nature and values of an English private urban allotment landscape

“…This builds on ideas of Lefebvre (1991) with his predilection towards functional and technical ordering of space, ignoring particular sights, sounds or smells that might be considered as out of place when conceived of within a "rational", Cartesian perspective (see also Porteous, 1985;Porteous and Mastin, 1985;Merriman, 2005;Hubbard 2011). Furthermore, Olwig (2003) views the plan or map as an instrument through which places become reduced to spatial abstractions, introducing a particular expert-led understanding of how areas should be viewed, interpreted and planned (see also Swords and Jeffries, 2015). Hence many contemporary spatial planning tools, underpinned by established rationalities such as zoning regulations, use class orders and environmental classifications rely largely on notions of order and control at the expense of more diverse types of interactions that can occur between people, place, flora and fauna in productive urban ecosystems (Prager et al, 2012;NEA, 2011;UKNEAFO, 2014).…”

Colliding epistemologies, productive tensions and usable pasts in the generation of heritage-led immersive experiences

“…This partiality is not presented as a problem but seen as a way to prompt discussion about what is included and what is not, and something which prompted "map viewers and critics interact [ing] with [it to] discuss the map" (Brown and Knopp 2008, 53). This understanding of maps makes them post-representational (Kitchin and Dodge 2007), 'writerly texts' for users to construct anew each time they are mobilised (Pickles 2012), places in which to dwell (Rossetto 2012), and prompts users to reshape their use of spaces represented by maps (Palmer and Lester 2013;Swords and Jeffries 2015). The idea of maps being writerly texts parallels Bell and Grey's (2007) argument for mindful approaches to presenting the past.…”

Skill Acquisition and Korean Landscape Architecture: An Ethnographic Account of Skateboarding in Seoul, South Korea

“…Ttukseom skate park breaks away from the rhythm of the city of Seoul in yet another manner, in that it is located in a recreational park that is designed to embrace and encourage formalized ludic activities within predefined spatial configurations. Simultaneously, Ttukseom Hangang Park marginalizes the psychogeographical sensory and cognitive mapping of urban landscapes that Jeffries et al (2013;Jeffries, Messer, & Swords, 2016;Swords & Jeffries, 2015) notice among skateboarders in northern England. For Ttukseom's functional layout and recreational meanings dominate to such an extent that it would be a herculean task to see, experience, and sense the area in a manner that diverts from or critiques its intended use.…”