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Urban maps : instruments of narrative and interpretation in the city

This research constructs a critical framework that questions the notion of architecture as a static or objectified condition. The research is concerned with locating new ways of defining the space of the city through its infrastructures and interstices, to situate conceptual thought in relation to the context and content of the built environment. The objectives of the research address mapping practices, processes and interpretations to disclose and understand latent socio-cultural conditions. These are presented as a series of critical lenses to develop instrumentality via cognitive and experiential modes of analysis and synthesis. The publication represents six years of close academic collaboration between the co-authors and ten-plus years of individual practice and reflection. Thematic arguments were developed then rigorously interrogated through dialogue with leading figures in relation to the various topics, who confirmed and reshaped the integrity of the ideas further.

The book’s relevance has been acknowledged by key figures in the discipline, Professor Jane Rendell and Pedro Gadanho, reviews and by being shortlisted for the Urban Design Awards 2013 in the research category. A second edition was published in January 2013. The methodologies developed in the book have been disseminated at three major conferences and formed the intellectual platform for ‘Interstitial Insertions’, a week-long workshop selected as part of the Hack the City programme, Science Gallery, Dublin, 14-19 August 2012. This addressed real-world solutions to city-based problems, bringing artists, architects, planners and critical geographers together to identify creative strategies for residual urban spaces in and around Dublin. The workshop was one of only three funded labs by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin City of Science 2013, IBM and Dublin City Council. The outputs were exhibited within the Science Gallery alongside the work of internationally recognised figures in relation to the hacking and control of urban space.