Happy Maps to Places

Figure 1: Four different maps all leading to the same place, but with different routes which invoke various emotions.

Drawing back the focus this week to my chosen network which is the on campus college, and has been the subject of my analysis to think about the imagined geographies of its members. It can be said that it is not a topic which crosses the mind of many. All of us within college live together, and may even call it a ‘home away from home’, however certain areas of this geographic space have  a different meaning to each individual resident. This makes said certain areas of this geographic space a place, which has a purpose.

The college network is one that is very multi-cultural and diverse. There are international students as well as Australians. Those of the same culture often group together to form special bonds, and a smaller network within the bigger network. The same can be said of the Aussie students who come from the same hometown. Members of this smaller networks are very close and exclusive, often occupying their specific place which serves them a specific purpose.

Wood, Ward and Abramms (2001, pg.5) speak of each map as having a purpose. In this week’s lecture it was said that maps show hierarchies in a network and help understand the various connections (Kuttainen, 2016). Even the most common areas on college that may seem insignificant to the majority of the network- has a symbolic meaning for this smaller networks as it is their place (Tuan, 1977). The routes to this certain places may be Happy Maps, as Daniele Quercia explains in his 2014 TedTalk.

Reference List:

Kuttainen, V. (2016).BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, lecture 4: Maps [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

Switala, K. (2016). We all need more happy maps! [Image] Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-all-need-more-happy-maps-kevin-switala-gisp

Tuan, Y.F. (1977) Space and Place: The perspective of experience. London, UK: Edward Arnold Publishers Ltd. 

Wood, D., Ward, K. L., Abramms, B. (2001) Seeing Through Maps: Many Ways to see the World. UK. New Internationalist Publications