using maps for social change

much of this is reposted from the blog Social Design Notes:

some useful definitions:

Critical Cartography

Reading geography and maps as sites of power, deconstructing assumptions and political implications of maps. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_cartography, Siam Mapped, Spaces of Capital

and: Los Angeles: The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest Press, 2008

edited volume available for free online through praxis (e)press. Part IV are some critical articles on cartography (http://www.praxis-epress.org/CGR/contents.html).

edited ACME journal volume on critical cartography (http://www.acme-journal.org/Volume4-1.htm), guest edited by Leila Harris and Mark Harrower.

Radical Cartography

Using and creating maps to challenge power and facilitate social change, usually characterized by an oppositional, anti-authoritarian politics. See An Atlas of Radical Cartography, NYC Guide to War Profiteers, Radical Cartography.net, Million Dollar Blocks, and the image here is of the map of Plan Colombia by the fabulous Beehive Collective

Counter Cartography

Producing maps that challenge the dominant, mainstream narrative of a site or history, often from an explicitly political or activist perspective or from the point of view of historically marginalized communities. See DisOrientation Guide, CrashStat, A Threat to Peace, Notes for a People’s Atlas of Chicago.

Community Cartography

Maps produced collaboratively by a geographically local community, often used to promote a social agenda. See Green Map Systems, Asset Mapping, Aboriginal Mapping Network.

for ideas about how to do all of this check out Geog Visualisation Resources