Workshop held on the January 23rd, 2016 in AltCity

9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. : registration 10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. : meeting & networking 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. : what is cognitive mapping? 11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. : draw Beirut’s map individually 12:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. : wander in the city (= city tour) 3:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. : draw Beirut’s map collectively

I AM …

… AND I WOULD LIKE TO MEET YOU

there is a vast difference between maps that measure geographic features and those that take measure of psychological terrain.

SO WHAT IS COGNITIVE MAPPING?

“cognitive” : “of, relating to, being, or involving conscious intellectual activity (as thinking, reasoning, or remembering)”

“mapping” : “the act or process of making a map”.

Merriam-Webster dictionary

“cognitive maps are a type of mental processing composed of a series of psychological transformations by which an individual can acquire code, store, recall and decode information about the relative locations and attributes of phenomena in their everyday or metaphorical spatial environment. Cognitive maps have been studied in various fields, such as psychology, education, archeology, planning, geography, architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning and management.

Putting it into simpler terms, cognitive maps are a method used to construct and accumulate spatial knowledge.”

Dans ces cartes se heurtent objectivité apparente du plan et expérience subjective de la ville.

Le sujet dérivant détourne l’espace urbain de sa fonction première – orienter les foules ; le cartographe psychogéographique détourne la carte officielle pour lui faire dire ce qu’elle cache – la fragmentation de l’espace urbain. Il s’agit donc de faire la critique des espaces réel, représenté et vécu, par l’introduction de la subjectivité là où on ne l’attendait pas, là où on n’en voulait pas : dans la ville, dans la carte.

« l’espace urbain deviendra l’œuvre des usagers eux-mêmes ou bien il deviendra inacceptable ».

Isidore Isou

I AM A TOURIST AND I WANT TO EXPLORE

BEIRUT THROUGH YOUR SUBJECTIVE EYES …

I see the city's neighborhoods as small islands, each with its own identity, loosely connected by the energy that emanates from it's inhabitants

map a fleeting memory, a moment of dissolving time, or the spaces and gaps between spaces and gaps.

most of what you're left with is the road itself and a narrow band of land on either side

WHEN YOU DRAW YOUR MAP EXCHANGE IT WITH

YOUR MATE AND GO EXPLORE HIS MAP

SHARE YOUR FINDINGS (photos, sketches, models, films,…)

WITH US ON #emotionalbeirut

@richartkhalil

WHEN WE MEET AGAIN @ 3:00 p.m. WE WILL SHARE EXPERIENCES BY COUPLES

& COLLECTIVELY

“A man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by, he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face.” — Jorge Luis Borges, The Aleph and Other Stories