Mapping images of the city

During the summer semester of 2016 students at the Institute for Art and Architecture (part of the Academy of Fine Arts) explored the theme of cartography as part of seminar entitled Mappings. The seminar focused on the historical and contemporary production of maps, investigating maps as a way to understand society and the organizational forms of the city. Students attempted to create their own methods for mapping the city that took into account social interaction and orientation.

Data was collected via a survey sent to students in eight schools aged 13-19 who attend school in the outer districts of Vienna (see diagram). The questions, which were developed cooperatively in the seminar, aimed to understand the students’ subjective perception of the city. A particular emphasis was given to images of the city and the perceived importance of centers and sub-centers. In addition, students created ‘cognitive maps’-- drawings of their paths to school on which they marked locations that held personal significant for them.
The approach to data collection and evaluation used in the project derives from the book The Image of the City (1960) by the American architect and city planner, Kevin Lynn.
At the end of the project, seminar participants evaluated the collected data and interpreted it in relation to the students’ ‘cognitive maps’.’

The eight maps are hung on the long wall, while the central city plan shows the location of the schools. A brochure with a selection of drawings by and interviews with the students accompanies the presentation.
Students: Clemens Aniser, Michael Glechner, Pia Grobner, Cenk Güzelis, Valentin Heuwieser, Ronja Hye, Niklas Jakobsen, Simone Maria Vestergaard Jensen, Man Ho Kwan, Linda Lackner, Ching Yee Leung, Marlene Lübke-Ahrens, Karan Nareshbhai Makwana, Shivani Dipakkumar Mehta, Bahareh Mohammadi, Arianna Mondin, Wolfgang Novotny, Samy Omar, Signe Østergaard Pallesen, Natascha Peinsipp, Dominic Schwab, Raffael Schwärzler, Kristyna Sevcikova, Benjamin Softic, Veronika Suschnig, Rumena Trendafilova, Sara Zebec.

Teacher: Antje Lehn

This project was created in conjunction with the 2017 exhibition „Wien von oben. Die Stadt auf einen Blick“.
Thanks to: Isabell Termini, Bärbel Schrems, Elke Doppler and Sándor Bekesi.