Maps can be tools of social control and of resistance, of ideology and of critical analysis. Ever since Brian Harley called for a deconstruction of maps and Denis Wood reminded us of the power of maps, and since people like William Bunge or (much earlier) Sandor Radó started mapping the marginalized and the invisible (un-mapped) costs of capitalist development, it is clear that maps are everything but innocent statements of what is where. Critical approaches to maps and cartography are both: A critique of cartographical rationalities – a critique of the assumption it is unproblematic to claim this is there – and a call for critical maps – a call for saying this is there.
In two workshops, we aim to bring together practitioners, activist approaches and critical theory to discuss and develop critical approaches to the role of maps in producing urban and transnational space. The first workshop, scheduled for December 12/13, 2011, is dedicated to the question of mapping urban spaces. Urban spaces are in the focus of maps produced and used by a wide range of urban actors, and we are looking for critical analyses (of for example planning maps, maps of poverty, maps of health needs, maps of minorities, maps of “dangerous” areas …) and underground mappings, counter-cartographies and interventionist maps. The workshops will take place at the CCGES, York University, Toronto.

Tuesday, December 13, Vanier College Senior Common Room
10am-12pm Levente Polyak: Mapping conflicts in Post-Socialist Cities: Anatomy of a Street