Cultural Cartography of Bronzeville

Syllabus  |  Schedule  |  Readings  |  Resources  |  Tutorials
Studio Project

Overview


There is an enormous amount of information to assist with the recovery of Bronzeville across its various stages of development and change.  This data exists in the maps of the Chicago School of Sociology, in works of fiction and poetry, in collections of street photography, in the archives of famous residents, in the myriad histories that have been written about its enormous contributions to American culture, in the testimonies of living memory collected by researched like Timuel Black, in interviews with Studs Terkel and the recordings of Alan Lomax, in the archives of historic newspapers like the Chicago Defender or Chicago Bee, and in the special collections of the University of Chicago, the Chicago Public Library, and institutions across the United States and Europe.

There are also abundant techniques and technologies for producing visualizations.   Some involve the disciplinary conventions of urban analysis, planning, urban design, landscape and architectural practice.  Some involve the discipline of cartography, psychogeophy, cognitive mapping.  Some relate to the inventions of 20th Century and contemporary artists.

However, attempts to translate raw data about Bronzeville (which is often structural) into visualizations that communicate and interpret its history are fairly limited.  

This project invites students to make some attempts.  

Each step in the following process relates to one Studio Session, per the course Schedule.

Phase 1: Research and Data Collection

Overview

There is an enormous amount of information to assist with the recovery of Bronzeville across its various stages of development and change.  This data exists in the maps of the Chicago School of Sociology, in works of fiction and poetry, in collections of street photography, in the archives of famous residents, in the myriad histories that have been written about its enormous contributions to American culture, in the testimonies of living memory collected by researched like Timuel Black, in interviews with Studs Terkel and the recordings of Alan Lomax, in the archives of historic newspapers like the Chicago Defender or Chicago Bee, and in the special collections of the University of Chicago, the Chicago Public Library, and institutions across the United States and Europe.
There are also abundant techniques and technologies for producing visualizations.   Some involve the disciplinary conventions of urban analysis, planning, urban design, landscape and architectural practice.  Some involve the discipline of cartography, psychogeophy, cognitive mapping.  Some relate to the inventions of 20th Century and contemporary artists.

However, attempts to translate raw data about Bronzeville (which is often structural) into visualizations that communicate and interpret its history are fairly limited.  

This project invites students to make some attempts. To begin, students are asked to produce two (2) complementary visualizations of the “Ghost City”:A.  Reference for Walking

Via reckless neglect and active annihilation, the urbanistic and architectural spaces that once formed the scenography of Bronzeville have been collapsed into their own foundations. Like an archeology of the recent past, these spaces now reside just beneath the surface of other sites and myriad empty lots.  Students are invited to plot an itinerary through Bronzeville’s urban field, reconstructing a visual reference to assist others to understand the degree of change that has taken place.

This reference can integrate many time periods into the following frameworks for visualization:

  1. A street plan, which could be continuous or discontinous depending on the topic of interest, showing the location of spaces in relation to both sides the street. 
  2. Elevations of buildings or interiors (if significant) on either side of street.  These can be photographic collages or drawings.
  3. Annotations about the cultural significance of sites and any notes about time if these drawings reflect multiple periods.

B. Constellations or Networks of Cultural Development.

The itinerary above would intersect with one or more constellations of spaces that supported various forms cultural development in Bronzeville.  Because of the history of disenfrachisement, these sites might include both formal institutions and informal spaces, for example:

  • Jazz Venues
  • Blues Venues
  • Theaters
  • Churches
  • The living rooms of famous residents.
  • Policy sites.
  • Newspaper publishers.
  • Recording studios.
  • Fine Arts Institutions
 2 : Define the Area of Interest

Assignment

Decide the scope of your mapping project. You must choose either:
  1. A geographical zone (e.g., a neighborhood, park, district, region).  It should be no less than 6 blocks long, and no longer than 12.   It can be continuous, to recover the ambience of a street in a zone of heightened cultural activity.  
  2. A thematic subject (e.g., music, fine art, poetry/prose, red-lining, social venues, residences of notable figures). This is likely to be discontinuous  connecting sites spread across a larger territory. 

Tasks

  • Write a one-page project description outlining your choice and why it matters.
  • Identify the communities, histories, or themes that your project seeks to illuminate.
  • Create a preliminary list of at least three guiding questions your map should help answer.

Deliverable

One-page project proposal.

 3 : Develop a Research Itinerary

Assignment

Develop a bibliography of at least 6–10 texts relevant to your chosen project scope.
Develop a schedule for visiting relevant archives.  These institutions are good places to start and their websites have finding aids:


Tasks

  • Search for primary and secondary sources: books, articles, reports, archives, oral histories, poems, essays.
  • Record full bibliographic citations (Chicago style preferred).
  • Write one to two sentences per source explaining its potential contribution to your map.

Deliverable

Annotated bibliography (minimum six sources).
Annotated archival collections documentation.
4 : Extract Data

Assignment

Transform your bibliography into mappable data.

Tasks

  • Carefully read your sources. Identify and record references to places, addresses, or regions.
  • Enter this information into a spreadsheet with the following columns:
    • Address/place name
    • Latitude & longitude
    • Source text + citation
    • Annotation (why this site is significant)
    • Here’s an example of a well-prepared spreadsheet.
  • Aim to collect at least 60 entries.  For the project, an abundance of data is helpful, so the more entries, the better. 

Deliverable

Spreadsheet of locations with full metadata.
5 : Plot Data (Mid-Quarter Review)

Assignment

Test the clarity and coherence of your data.

Tasks

  • Import your spreadsheet into QGIS (or other mapping software).
  • Generate a basic map displaying all sites.
  • Write a 250-word interpretive statement that answers:
    • What story is revealed by this data?
    • Why does it matter?
    • What gaps or contradictions emerge?

Deliverables

  • Mapped dataset + 250-word interpretive text.
  • And, from prior weeks:
            Spreadsheet of locations with full metadata
            Annotated bibliography
           Project proposal    

Phase 2: Cartographic Display


Overview


The second phase of this project asks you to translate the generic point data from the previous week into a map.  Unlike a data plot, a map tells a story and decisions about the materiality and graphical quality of the map can add new dimensions without compromising the coherence of the data: to convey emotion, significance, a sense of place or other concerns.  

A map (whether displayed on paper or an electronic interface) is a desiged object. It is a model of a world that influences our field of visibility.  It allows us to see certain features of that world precisely because it suppresses others.  This inherent amplification and suppression of information also makes the consideration of political implications unavoidable. 

Consequently, to develop control, it is crucial that you engage in fulsome attempts to prototype techniques of cartographic display.  To engage in the way maps support inquiry or shape a narrative this investigation asks you to address three relationships in similar proportion:

  1. How does the raw data you’ve collected relate to the subjects/objects of inquiry or narrative intent?
  2. How is inquiry or narrative intent supported by and translated into techniques of graphical display?
  3. How do materials and techinques of drawing communicate a story, mood, significance, emotion, relation, space or place?
  4. How do techniques of graphic display relate to the ergonomics of human interaction  (e.g. techniques of folding and unfolding paper,  or how a map is viewed through an electronic or other “user interface.”)

To help you generate something satisfying, studio time will be dedicated to evaluating permutations (exploring possible relationships and techniques) and later, iterations (the refinement of those relationship and techniques) before production for the Final Review begins.

Instructions


Prototypes to pin-up — every week — starting Week 6.

  1. Data should already be abundant / established, however additional sites may continue to be added.

    a.  Spreadsheet(s) printed so we can evaluate classes of information.
    b.  Display via Google Maps, ArcGIS or QGIS, for visual reference

  2. Scope of and scale of the map aligned with size and shape of paper or other interface.

  3. Map Legends defined and tested via well-crafted graphical attempts.

    a.   Least challenging sample area — min 3 tests (permutations/iterations)
    b.   Mots challenging sample area — min 3 tests (permutations/iterations)

Identify folding and display strategies to support (a) portability and/or (b) content.  Does the inquiry of narrative require that you zoom in/out, move from exteriors to interiors, communicate change over time, or address/communicate another crucial phenomenon?

Final Map


After 2 weeks of in-studio discussion around your experiments, permutations, and iterations you should have good idea of the narrative, the data, and the techniques you’ll pursue to produce the Final Map.  

Note Bene:
Although you are expected to present a well constructed single map at the Final Review, a map tends to synthesize constituent bits of information, and often in specific layers. Identifying your map’s constituent parts and breaking them down into managable pieces will help you divide your group’s labor and schedule weekly effort.  This will require some advance planning .

In support of that, in Week 8, you should be able to present your group’s Work Plan for discussion and advice.  This would indicate how you plan to organize your group’s division of labor, your process deadlines, and how things need to coalesce for synthesizing.

At the Final Review you should present the final map in relation to all supporting process work.
6 : Experiments in the Craft of Maps

Assignment

Investigate the expressive power of cartographic technique.

Tasks

  • Select one emblematic region of your data.
  • Map it in five distinct ways, each in a 6” × 6” square.
  • Vary: substrate (paper/digital/hybrid), graphic legend, symbols, color, scale, materiality.
  • Each experiment should deliberately test how materials and techniques convey meaning.

Deliverable

Five 6” × 6” experimental maps.
7 : First Prototype

Assignment

Select one experiment to expand.

Tasks

  • Choose the cartographic method that best balances clarity and narrative force.
  • Produce a larger prototype map applying this approach across your entire dataset.
  • Focus on refining symbols, legends, and material qualities.

Deliverable

Prototype of the full map.
From prior weeks:
    Five 6” × 6” experimental maps.
8 : Critique / Experiments in Refinement

Assignment

Critically assess the prototype from the prior week.

Tasks
Write a 250-word evaluation.  Consider:

  • What do the materials, techniques, and questions of craft enable?
  • What do they suppress?
  • What questions of distortions arise?
  • How might you adjust to better honor both data and significance of the story?
  • Redraw the map or generate a minimum of 3 new 6-in square (per week 6) or similar studies to refine the technique.

Deliverable

Prototype of the full map or refinement studies.
From prior weeks:
    Prior Prototypes
    Five 6” × 6” experimental maps.
© Andrew SchachmanThe University of Chicago ARCH 24206 ENST 24206 AMER 24206 CHST 24206 CEGU 24206