Mapping as a Methodology for Researching “P-S” Cities

Лекция пройдет на английском языке без перевода.
Дискуссия – на русском и английском языках (спикер говорит по-русски).

Модератор дискуссии: Олег Паченков, социолог, программный директор Института урбанистики «Среда», научный сотрудник ЦНСИ, директор ЦПИ ЕУСПб

Henri Lefebvre once wrote: “How many maps … might be needed to deal exhaustively with a given space, to code and decode all its meanings and contents?” How relevant is such a question for understanding and researching post-socialist, or what I prefer to refer to as P-S, cities and how they function? 

On the basis of research carried out in Vilnius and Warsaw, this talk presents how we are trying to develop critical mapping as an experimental methodology for exploring the multiplicity of social and spatial relations from which a given locality is constituted. Drawing on ideas from the work of Bruno Latour, in particular his and Emilie Hermant’s Paris: Invisible City project, from critical geography, and from the ways in which mapping theories and digital technologies have challenged the understanding of what is a map, mapping in this talk will be presented as a conceptual approach seeking to find new ways to research and represent the multi-scalar relations from which post-socialist cities are formed. Social scientists, geographers, architects, urban planners and all puzzled about the ways of mapping the space in general and post-socialist cities in particular – are welcome!  

Benjamin Cope — Ph.D. in Philology (French and Russian), acting director of the Laboratory of Critical Urbanism at the European Humanities University in Vilnius, where he lectures on the specialisations in Visual and Cultural Studies, Gender Studies and Critical Urbanism. His rresearch interests: spatial theories, socio-spatial change in Eastern Europe, critical mapping and culture. Lives in Warsaw, where he works at Zachęta National Gallery of Art and as a member of the NGO Stowarzyszenie My.