This Is My City

My project This Is My City is based on the fact that even though urban spaces are shared by people from all walks of life, each person has their own unique perception and knowledge of the environment. No two people define or experience a given environment in exactly the same way. During this project I wanted to explore how the young people of Espoon keskus see their surroundings and what their mental maps look like.

I collected the maps by spending time at Entresse library and talking with the kids about mental maps and urban spaces. I then asked them to draw me their map i.e. what places they know and use in Espoon keskus. It turned out that some maps were surprisingly similar to each other — and that some were wildly unique. A couple just highlighted Entresse shopping mall and the train station. Below is a sample of the different maps:

After a couple of days spent at the library I had a stack of handdrawn maps, which I then scanned. I inserted thescanned maps into a map/brochure template I had made with Photoshop. I printed the maps at Print Lab and folded them to look like real tourist maps of Espoo. In spoof advertising style I had designed the covers, colors and fonts to look like the real thing. See the cover below:

With a stack of 50 spoof tourist maps (5 x 10 unique maps) I returned to Espoon keskus and spread the work around the area. The library's brochure shelves proved to be the best spot, and the maps really fit in, looking like the real thing — diluting the line between personal and private environments. I also talked with a couple of café and shop owners and left a pile of maps at counters around the area's shopping malls. Below are some photos of the maps left around Espoon keskus:

Hopefully people will pick the maps up and get to thinking how their environment is really seen by its young residents. As a whole, the private maps work together to build a picture of what Espoon keskus is really used for. These maps aren't an official view of how the city wants itself to be seen. They are the real thing. Spugekalliot and all.