URBANATLAS

PROJECT
GUIDE
URBANATLAS
2 3 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE www.urbanatlasproject.wordpress.com
The real voyage of
discovery consists not in
seeking new landscapes
but in having new eyes.

Quote by Marcel Proust

INTRODUCTION
As our guiding tool, the Urban Atlas Guide uses our Five Lens Approach to
expose Urban Atlas Project participants to creative methods and tools pulled
from various artists, social scientists, activists, community organizations
and more. By utilizing these tools and reframing their context for urban
investigations Urban Atlas Project participants can unearth the past, reveal the
present and imagine the future of their city.
The Urban Atlas Project is an archive of narratives around urban development
as seen through a Five Lenses Approach of Stories, Boundaries, Power
Dynamics, Networks and Imaginaries. It serves as a platform for local artists,
residents and youth to critically investigate, unearth and imagine the ways in
which processes and effects of urban development impact their everyday life.
PROJECT EXAMPLES:
a selection of projects by artists, designers, organizations, social scientists
and activists that used creative methods during their process or in the way the
content was communicated.
METHOD EXERCISES:
we introduce various methods, their descriptions, steps required to perform,
the tools needed as well as the learning outcome.
SEEING THROUGH THE LENSES:
we provide suggested lenses by which each method can be viewed.
In this Guide:
About:
THE URBAN ATLAS PROJECT + THE GUIDE
4 5 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE www.urbanatlasproject.wordpress.com
THE FIVE LENSES
Stories:
An account of imaginary or real people and events
Power Dynamics:
Are the relationships of forces that produce change.
Boundaries:
The borders or limits of an area
Networks:
An interconnected group or system
Imaginaries:
A desired set of shared goals, ideas and value about the future
When excitement about subject matter
goes deep, it stirs up a store of attitudes
and meanings derived from prior
experience. As they are aroused into
activity they become conscious thoughts
and emotions, emotionalized images.
A METHOD OF INVESTIGATING THE URBAN
STORIES BOUNDARIES
POWER
DYNAMICS
NETWORKS IMAGINARIES
We were interested in looking at the social, the physical, the political, the
historical, the cultural and the economic in a more accessible, open yet critical
way. These lenses do not restrict us to one particular way or form of seeing
but guide us through constructing narratives that considers the past, the
present and the future of our neighborhoods.
These lenses are meant to help weave out the dualities or multiplicities of the
everyday. The critical aspect comes from allowing ourselves to question what
matters the most to us.
Our Defnitions:
About:

- John Dewey
6 7 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
WHAT ARE OUR CONCERNS?
CONSCIOUSNESS RAISING
A. Identify a common issue or concern in your neighborhood
common issues that can be discussed are urban development,
conficts, movements, political parties or politicians to name a few.
B. Organize a meeting to discuss this concern with general public
this can be a picnic, brunch or round table meeting.
Critical thinking, awareness of common desires, developing arguments,
critiquing current conditions
- note pad + pencil
- voice recorder (cell phone)
- a common concern
- people (this can be a group friends!)
- a place to meet (parks, quiet areas,
restaurants, your home)
Stories, Boundaries, Power Dynamics, Networks, Imaginaries
This method of research often takes the form of a group of
people focusing the attention of a wider group of people on some
cause or condition. Through this exercise individual feelings and
experiences be revealed as collective feelings and experiences.
Informing the general public of a collective concern is often the frst
step to changing how the institutions handle it, raising awareness
is often the frst activity advocacy groups focus on. Even when
done with a group of friends or neighbors this exercise can bring to
light common concerns and be the frst step to addressing it.
What are our concerns? Who is this concern affecting and where is it
happening? How can it be better addressed? What would you like to see
happen?
WOMANHOUSE
FEMINIST ART COLLECTIVE
Womanhouse (30 January - 28 February 1972) was a feminist art installation
and performance space organized by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro, co-
founders of the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) Feminist Art Program.
Chicago, Schapiro, their students and women artists from the local community
participated. Chicago and Schapiro encouraged their students to use
consciousness-raising techniques to generate the content of the exhibition
and address issues produced by male-dominated societal ideologies.
A. Identifed womens issues and criticisms of patriarchy within a male dominant
society as a common concern.
B. The collective organized discussions in private areas and studio spaces.
STORIES: The session revealed common feminist ideologies.
BOUNDARIES: The boundaries created through gender were made
clear and the space (an abandoned mansion) shows the perceived
boundary of the role of women as being tied solely to the home.
POWER DYNAMICS: Power dynamics between men and women.
NETWORKS: Like-minded participants reveals a network of women.
IMAGINARIES: Collective imaginaries towards challenging patriarchy.
For more info about this project visit: http://womanhouse.refugia.net/
1972 - Los Angeles, California
Photo by David Fenton/Getty Images
8 9 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
WHATS REALLY ON THIS BLOCK?
DRAWING
A. Identify 3-5 blocks in your neighborhood (business areas work really well)
B. On a sheet of paper draw the buildings with a pen or marker
(make sure to mark the street name in the to corner with an arrow for the
direction you are walking toward)
C. Look at all your buildings and write the function below it
(ex. pawn shop, bodega, bank, fower shop, electronics store, laundromat)
Critical thinking, identifying patterns, classifying building uses, sketch from
observation
Stories, Networks, Imaginaries
Do you see patterns of things represented on your block? Is there something
missing? Who lives in the area? Who controls what goes where? What would you
want this block to be?
This method of research uses drawing as a way of looking at the block you see
in your neighborhood everyday in an alternative way. The goal of the exercise
is to simply look at the building, its functions, who it may be serving and why it
is located in a particular place.
The analysis of this exercise allows you to see the network of places
infuencing the identity of your neighborhood. You can begin to see the
services that are present and the ones that are not. Revisiting the buildings
you often see through drawing can help uncover patterns (laundromats, fast
food, pawn shops) and imagine the things you would like to see instead.
While investigating businesses and commercial areas of East Harlem drawing
the buildings became an alternative form of looking. Each drawing showed
physical outlines of each building but underneath each the use or function
was written. People often say they know they are in a particular area
of the city because of the things they see at the street level. This exercise
of drawing the buildings frst then paying attention to its use allowed her
to slow down and see what was really on the block and to inform ideas
around what each business was projecting onto the identity of the place.
For more info about this project visit: www.urbanatlasproject.wordpress.com
A. East Harlem, 103rd Street to 106th Street along 3rd Ave
B. Walking uptown and drawn on 5x7 index cards
with pink fne tip sharpie and a blue pen
C. Electronic stores, fast food chains, vacant buildings, 99 cent store and more
103 - 106 ST. ON 3RD AVE
The Urban Atlas Project - Sabrina Dorsainvil
2013 - East Harlem, New York
Courtesy of Sabrina Dorsainvil
STORIES: The commercial areas often cater to a specifc population of
people, responds to a demand, or is targeted at a group of potential users.
This relates back to the narrative of a place seeing the way cultural or
economic interests play out on the street.
NETWORKS: While looking at the list of places on the draw blocks networks
of pawn shops and fast food restaurants were identifed.
IMAGINARIES: Looking at areas with vacant spaces or areas under
construction can give space to considering future functions and imaging the
spaces to be used in service of residents.
- clipboard
- paper
- a pencil, a marker or a pen
- 3-5 blocks in your neighborhood
10 11 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
WHATS OUR STORY?
STORYTELLING
A. Create a one page fll in the blanks story line around
a topic(lens). Consider giving it a title!
B. In either a group or 1 on 1 ask participants to individually fll in the blanks
C. Depending on time and size of group, organize a safe space for
refection. Share your stories and see what answers you all came up with
What are the stories, boundaries, power dynamics, networks and imaginaries?
If my neighborhood could speak it would say...
Some envision my neighborhood to be...
I truly want my neighborhood to be...
My neighborhood sometimes speaks of changes. Some of which are...
Self refection, critical thinking, reasoning, state theories, identify changes,
describe neighborhood and conditions
Stories, Networks, Imaginaries
This exercise acts as a guided narrative and a conversation starter.
Participants are led through a semi-constructed story that leaves room
for their input. As a storytelling tool it aids in uncovering both their own
thoughts and their perceptions about the way their neighborhood is viewed.
The guiding words should aid the story but not lead the participants into
answering a specifc answer (remember it should still be their story). If this
is done with a group of residents a debrief session can help bring together
greater common threads and thoughts about the neighborhood.
This can be used to look at all fve lenses separately, paired up or altogether.
The task of the person constructing the story is to choose the focus.
(Luckily, we have attached an example of what they look like all together)
The Peoples Kitchen is a sliding-scale, local, organic, community
restaurant project that engages, builds and nourishes community
through shared-food events and sexy, social and cultural programming.
They use food and recipes as a tool for storytelling and reclaiming
community knowledge. They believe that sharing food and building
community knowledge are key to the process of decolonization.
The food story served as a conversation starter between
restaurant visitors at the COLORS restaurant in New York.
STORIES: The development of the story itself urged people to recollect food
memories. These questions alluded to ideas of health, senses, nostalgia, and
the production of food.
NETWORKS: The debriefng session paired groups of two together to tell
their stories to one another. During this session connections could be drawn
between the two participants.
IMAGINARIES: A portion of the story referenced future actions that could be
taken in regards to health and food preparation skills that could be passed on
to youth.
A. Story about food entitled My Food Story
B. Blanks included, name, childhood memories of food, favorite
food, hometown/country, and other personal refection questions
about the individual and their relationship to food
C. Participants were able to see what foods they had in
common and identify cross-culture food connections
MY FOOD STORY
The Peoples Kitchen Oakland
2013 - New York, New York
Courtesy Brooklyn Museum and Creative Time
For more info about this project visit: http://www.peopleskitchen510.org/
- lens inspired fll-in the blank narrative (open with a my name is)
- printed narrative sheets
- pencils or pens
12 13 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
THE THINGS WE HOLD ON TO...
OBJECTS OF MEMORY
A. Engaging with the community
B. Collecting memories through personal artifacts
C. Find a way to show participants the collection
Formulating ideas and stories around a personal object
Stories, Networks, Imaginaries
The personal artifacts we hold on to have a signifcantly important
relationship to our memory. Objects can be associated to a person from
your past and reveal moments that you might have an intimate relationship
with. The artifact reveals stories that are are not associated with the objects
primary function. For this exercise, participants are asked to think back on
their personal history and identify an object that has a story byond what is
assumed. Sharing these stories by presenting the object and writing about its
history can become a way to bring a group of personal stories together.
Residents of Barrio Antioquia, in Medellin Colombia, and a group of local
organizations invited Colombian anthropologist Pilar Riao and Suzanne Lacy to
produce a public art project to recreate a lost sense of community through art,
celebration, and fostered interaction. Engagement and input from the community
was vital so meetings with residents, artists, anthropologists and activists were
held to design the project. Over the course of several months, a paid team of
residents led by youth interviewed over one third of the total number of families in
the neighborhood to collect objects loaded with personal memories for display in a
temporary Museo arqueologico del Barrio Antioquia.
STORIES: The collective and individual memories that have been suppressed
by offcial histories form the narrative of the project.
BOUNDARIES: The collection of personal artifacts that speak to personal
memories take on a new context when presented in a public setting.
POWER DYNAMICS: The mobile/ nomadic exhibition space allows for
immediate access by the community; an access that is often denied because
of the strong control of gangs and narcotic groups.
NETWORKS: The collection of memories through personal artifacts ties a
community of people together through this very collection.
For more info about this project visit: http://www.suzannelacy.com/early-works/#/skin-of-memory/
A. Engaging with the community to hear their personal
stories and to collectively design the project
B. Local residents conducted interviews collected
personal artifacts that spoke to their stories
C. Artifacts were curated in a mobile bus
SKIN OF MEMORY
Suzanne Lacy + Pilar Riao
1998-1999 - Medelln, Antioquia, Colombia
Photo: Carlos Sanchez
What personal stories can you refect on that bring awareness to a current issue
that is being faced by you as an individual or as part of a collective?
- a group of people (friends,
neighbors, family)
- a member that acts as collector
- personal artifcats
- pen
- paper
14 15 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
TELL ME YOUR STORY
PARTICIPATORY PUBLIC PERFORMANCES
A. Identify a divrse group of community residents
B. Engage with the community of people working
around a common topic/issue
C. Set up sessions (the amount can vary) for
discussion around the issue being explored
C. Engage the public by opening up the conversation in public space
Ability to contruct a common narrative around collective issues and concerns
Stories, Boundaries, Networks
Storytelling allows for you to represent history, personal narratives,
political commentaries and the evolving culture we encounter everyday.
Private conversations can be held prior to the public storytelling to create a
framework and collective narrative about the issues explored. The planning
process is vital because the content for the public performances is derived
from the previous sessions.
Between the Door and the Street grew out of a series of deep and wide-
ranging conversations between Lacy and a group of activist women,
held over the course of fve months. Lacy considers this preparatory
work to be a key part of the project as a whole, and their ideas,
expertise, and principles informed the project. (Creative Time)
STORIES: The conversations held reveal stories and memories of gender
politics through a diverse range of ages, backgrounds and perspectives.
BOUNDARIES: Engaging in intimate discussions and conversation in public
space interrupts the boundary between public and private space. The
performance, sponsored in part by the Brooklyn Museum, took place beyond
the physical boundaries of the institution and allowed for diverse audience to
take part in the happening.
NETWORKS: The conversations between the participants create a network of
individuals discussing issues around gender politics.
For more info about this project visit: http://www.suzannelacy.com/between-the-door-and-the-street/
A. The project began with a series of conversations
between the artist and a group of activist women
B. Topics of interest included memory and gender politics
and were explored through a series of conversations
C. The content that came out of sessions make
the basis for the public conversations
BETWEEN THE DOOR AND THE STREET
Suzanne Lacy
2013 - Brooklyn , New York
Courtesy Brooklyn Museum and Creative Time
- a group of people
- a public space
- stories to share
What issues are being explores?
How do these issues impact you on an individual level?
How do these issues impact a group of people?

16 17 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
LETS MAKE RELATIONSHIPS VISIBLE
SOCIO-GRAM
A. Identify the various actors that have a stake in your
neighborhood and assign them a colored balloon
B. Plan an arrangement depending on how the group feels the relationships
play out (the further away from you, the weaker the relationship
C. Connect the balloons with the string that relates to the
type of relationship or communication that exists
Identify key stakeholders in your neighborhood. Develop mutually benefcially
strategies for collaboration
Networks, Power Dynamics, Imaginaries
This method is used to visually map relationships and lines of communications
between different individuals, local groups and government entities. It allows
the participants to visually see the alliances and collaborations that are
formed through strong relations while also highlighting relationships that
might need further strengthening. The exercise also asks the participants to
identify ways in which the relationships can grow and how the strategies could
be implemented to create a mutually benefcial partnership.
Working towards the goal of an economic solidarity network, the
exercise, Trueque de Amor, or, exchanges of love asked community
members to identify actors, strategies, and specifc actions that
can made these strategies come to life, emphasis was placed on
the question of how? What was uncovered was a frenetic, chaotic
and deep production of knowledge; with clusters of activities, the
negotiation of space and knowledge through movement all weaving
themselves to embody the interconnected ecologies of a city.
Networks: The exercise not only reveals the relationships present or not
present, its also begins to create an network or strategies and actions that
can assist in the realization of stronger connections.
Power Dynamics: The strong, normal and weak relationships and lines of
communications begin to visualize a hierarchy of control.
Imaginaries: Being aware of the actors that you have weak ties with provides
the space to envision future strategies for engagement.
For more info about this project visit: http://dsgnagnc.com/santa-cruz-visible/
A. The group identifed individuals and organizations (government, local orgs)
B. Balloons were used to write the actors in the collective socio-gram
C. Three different types of string were used to represent the
types of relationships that exist (strong material= strong
relationship, weak material = weak relationship
D. The proximity to each other further emphasized the relationships explored
TRUEQUE DE AMOR
Corporacin Cultural Nuestra Gente, Santa Cruz Visible-Parsons
2013 - Medelln, Antioquia, Colombia
What stakeholders are present in my neighborhood?
Do I have any connection to them?
What collective strategies can we implement to further connections with our
organization?
- group of people
- three different types of string or
yarn (fragile, normal, strong)
- colored balloons
- sharpies
- a type of adhesive
18 19 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
MAPPING CONNECTIONS
MAPPING SYSTEMS
A. Select an existing document from which to work with. Examples can be
newspaper articles, a neigborhood statement of needs, B. Document
Organize and classify information
Stories, Power Dynamics, Networks
This is a method that is used to analyze the communication of content. This
content could be in the form of a speech, written text, interviews, a statement
of needs or images. Read through the document you have selected to analyze
and come up with a coding system. The coding system will allow you to
visualize the stakeholders that are present, the exchanges and relationships
of the stakeholders as well as the outcomes of actions.
In one of his best-known works, Shapolsky et al. Manhattan Real Estate
Holdings, A Real Time Social System, as of May 1, 1971, Haacke took on
the real-estate holdings of one of New York Citys biggest slum landlords.
The work exposed, through meticulous documentation and photographs,
the questionable transactions of Harry Shapolskys real-estate business
between 1951 and 1971. His work made an issue of the business and personal
connections of the museums trustees and was canceled on the grounds of
artistic impropriety by the museums director six weeks before the opening.
STORIES: Using property data from New York public records, Haacke
revealed a story of ownership and control of urban space by an individual
affliated with the Guggenheim, a powerful institution
POWER DYNAMICS: The research reveals power dynamics at various scales;
the individual mindset of someone viewing the city as an economic product as
well as revealing his ties to an institutional space.
NETWORKS: Haackes investigation revealed obscure family ties with the
control and ownership of property in Manhattan.
For more info about this project visit:
http://whitney.org/Collection/HansHaacke
A. Identifed an individuals real-estate holdings to analyze
B. Documented properties through notes and photographs
C. Analyzed documents relating to properties
D. Mapped business and personal relationships in regards to property holdings
SHAPOLSKY ET AL. MANHATTAN REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS,
A REAL TIME SOCIAL SYSTEM, AS OF MAY 1, 1971
Hans Haacke
1971, New York
Courtesy of the Artist
Who is the author of the content?
Who is the audience ?
What are the actions, relationships or exchanges?
Why was this written?
- text (speeches, interviews, property
deeds, newspaper articles ect.)
- pens (various colors)
- pencils
20 21 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
ERASING BOUNDARIES
ERASURE
A. Use an existing map of your neighborhood produced by city agencies
B. Using an eraser tool, begin to erase lines that
create borders, boundaries and limits
C. Draw over the erased map to create a new
context and way of seeing the map
Analysis of different types of maps, re-imagining
Boundaries, Power Dynamics, Imaginaries
This method of investigation allows you to manipulate an existing text, image
or map by erasing elements from the original piece to alter its context and
reveal alternative perspectives. Erasure is most commonly used in creating
found poetry, but the method can transcend the realm of writing and be
applied to the representation of the urban through maps; erasing borders,
streets, boundaries and continent limits, begin to re-frame the context in
which we see the original map. This method can be used to re-imagine various
types of maps like an atlas, a topography map, a zoning map, or an ecological
map, to name a few.
Rather than nations or countries taking precedence as the visual anchor,
the Earth as a whole becomes the primary focus. From the violent,
aggressive gesture of erasing political borders and imagined national
spaces, Woodgate offers a signal of hope: an optimistic realization
of a world both beautiful to behold and comforting to imagine.
BOUNDARIES: Through the artists process of stripping down the visual
representation of borders and land masses, political and geographic divisions
no longer declare themselves but suggest delicate traces of abstract forms.
POWER DYNAMICS: Agustina challenges the dower dynamics that are at play
in the creation of an offcial atlas or globe.
IMAGINARIES: Woodgates piece is an inversion of an atlas where the
established divisions have been eradicated and distinctions have been
completely neutralized.
For more info about this project visit: http://agustinawoodgate.com/
A. Collected different sources depicting the world map (globe, print atlas)
B. Using sandpaper, Woodgate erases the borders that have been established
WORLD MAP; PLAISPHERE
Agustina Woodgate
2011 - Miami, Florida
Courtesy the artist
Who created the map?
What does the map represent?
What story does it tell?
How are physical, economic, or political maps represented?
- an existing map
- a creative type of eraser (marker,
scissors, white-out)
22 23 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
THE PRIVATE MADE PUBLIC
PUBLIC INTERVENTION
Self Refection; creating networks
Stories, Networks, Imaginaries
This exercise uses a survey as an intial fram to build many layers of not only
quantitative information, but also qualitative. For this exercise (it can be
done individually or in a group), come up with a list of curiosities you have
about your neighbrhood or city as a whole. Questions can range from asking
residents preferred mode of transportation, to asking how much residents
pay for their rent.
A. Brainstorm questions or prompts to engage the public in
B. Locate a site in your neighborhood where there is space
for engagement and participation from the community
C. Make sure to have examples of responses to the
promt or question that is being asked
Inspired by Illegal Arts To Do project, Candy Chang covered a Brooklyn
storefront window with Post-it notes stamped with specifc fll-in-the-
blank forms to ask her neighbors how much they pay for their apartments.
By the end of the week, the window was transformed into a collection
of housing information created by and relevant to the community.
STORIES: Individual stories about the harsh realities of affordability become
collective stories that are accessible for public engagement through the realm
of public space.
NETWORKS: The project unites a local community around the ever present
issue of housing affordability in the city. The project not only highlights a
pressing concern in many neighborhoods, it also create a space where local
knowledge can be shared and exchanged.
IMAGINARIES: The project becomes an entry point into further investigating
alternatives by which to combat housing costs.
NOTES FOR NEIGHBORS
Candy Chang, Installation assistance by Kay Cheng.
2008 - storefront window, Brooklyn, NY
Courtesy the artist
For more info about this project visit: http://candychang.com/post-it-notes-for-neighbors-2/
A. Selected a site for your public intervention
B. Prepared the site for the installation
C. Provided the template for the public to engage and contribute to
Is there anything you want to voice your concern or opinion on?
Is there is a collective experience we can unearth through an intervention that
engages the public?
- public space
- post- its
- a marker + a pen
- camera for documentation
24 25 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
WHAT IS THAT REALLY SAYING?
DETOURNEMENT
Critical thinking
Stories, Boundaries, Power Dynamics, Networks
This method utilizes the artistic practice of taking elements from a well known
media source and reusing it to create a new piece with a different meaning.
The re-appropriation of the original image, text or object makes it so that it
looses its original value and is looked at through a different perspective to
tell a different story or reveal moments of the story that are not being shown.
For this exercise, participants are asked to create a visual story through the
appropriation of existing iconography.
A. Select a well known media source
B. Question the audience it is directed to and the story it is projecting
C. Alter the original source by removing certain elements
d. Draw, write, or collage new elements to the original
source to have it project a different story
This project is a series of images appropriated from magazine and
advertisements that are marketed towards an African-American audience
or feature black subjects. Thomas has digitally removed the text and
logos; no other part of the image has been altered. By unbranding
these advertisements the artist literally exposes what Roland Barthes
refers to as what goes without saying: in ads, in hopes of encouraging
viewers to look harder and think more deeply about how advertising
reinforces generalizations around race, gender and cultural identity.
STORIES: The images being appropriated by the artist depict a story
of African Americans and their cultural identity as seen through media
advertisements.
BOUNDARIES: The removal of an type of text or language forces the viewer
to be aware of the types of associations that are made through these powerful
tool. It can exclude or emphasize populations of people.
POWER DYNAMICS: The project reveals the strong control advertisements
have in creating generalizations about certain populations.
(UN) BRANDED REFLECTIONS IN BLACK BY CORPORATE AMERICA 1968-2008
Hank Willis Thomas
2005-2008
Courtesy the artist
For more info about this project visit: http://hankwillisthomas.com/2008/Unbranded/1/
A. Selected images from media advertisements
targeting an African-American audience
B. Removed the text from the advertisements
C. Arranged the photographs
What is the role of media and advertising in our city?
How is it used to explot certain populations?
How can we re-defne the role of media and who it serves?
- media sources (advertisements,
newspapers, logos, photographs)
- scissors
- a marker + a pen
- glue or tape
26 27 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
LETS REFLECT TOGETHER
DIY MEMORIAL
A. Identify a public space for your public intervention
C. Create a project description and instructions on how to participate
B. Provide materials for engagement
Self Refection, redefne the perceived idea of a memorial
Stories, Networks
A memorial is erected for the purpose of remembering and refecting on the
memory of a certain individual or event. As a group, identify a moment in your
neighborhoods past or recent history that you want to memorialize through
a do it yourself approach. You can identify a public space that is heavily
circulated by people so as to engage as many passersby as possible. You
can also select the site of a particular event or the home of an individual you
want to remember and have the passersby share their emotions or stories in
relation to the event or person.
The project was an impromptu 9/11 memorial on Fifth Avenue this morning
using cups, chalk, and good old NYC sidewalk. A sign explaining the installation,
which starts at 14th Street and continues for almost ten blocks up the avenue,
says that a group called Illegal Art has marked each of the 110 foors of
the World Trade Center in chalk, heading north for 1,368 feet, the height
of the taller of the two towers. Passersby, like yourself, are encouraged
to walk the height of the once standing buildings along 5th Avenue and
write any words that express your feelings or experience related to 9/11.
STORIES: This project allows for memories and personal narratives to be
integrated into a collective story of feelings around the terrorist attacks of
September 11th. The marking of the 110 foors the World Trade Center allows
for the passerby to understand the scale of the building as a walkable plane,
but more importantly, it memorializes the feelings and personal narratives
that were associated with the tragic event.
NETWORKS: The act of writing feelings and memories associated with the
9/11 attacks create a network of individuals who are connected through their
feelings of anger, lose, sadness or frustration.
A. 5th Avenue
B. Encouraged people to walk the height of the once standing buildings
and write words that express feelings or experiences related to 9/11
C. Chalk, cups
INTERACTIVE 9/11 STREET ART MEMORIAL
Illegal Art Collective
2011 - New York, New York
Courtesy of @drewconway
For more info about this project visit:
http://gothamist.com/2011/09/09/interactive_911_street_art_memorial.php#photo-5
Who identifes what is worthy to be memorialized?
How can we provided a space for refection?
What types of events, moments in history, or individuals are usually
memorialized and why?
- a public space
- everyday materials
28 29 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
MAKING PRIVATE MOMENTS HEARD
PERSONAL TESTIMONIES + PROJECTIONS
A. Organize a session with a group of individuals
willing to share their personal testimonies
B. Collectively discuss public space on which to
project the recordings that will take place.
C. Set up an adequate space for recording
D. Record sessions
Self Refection, conscioussness raising
Stories, Boundaries, Power Dynamics
A personal testimony is based on personal experiences or personal knowledge
about a situation or issue. Sometimes, one of the best ways to make an issue
known is to have the people most affected reveals their personal accounts
to the public. The exercise of revealing personal testimonies can be used
at a neighborhood scale to talk about everyday conditions that are created
because of a larger system of control. Gathering individuals to talk about
their story and recording their narrative creates both a space for personal
refection and space for archiving. Depending on the technology that is
available for the exercise, you can choose to project the reordings after the
conversations have been completed and edited or in real time. The recordings
can be projected in a public pace that is connected to the testimonies of the
participants.
The projects purpose was to give voice and visibility to the women who
work in the maquiladora industry in Tijuana, through progressive
technology and media. The womens testimonies focused on a variety of
issues including work related abuse, sexual abuse, family disintegration,
alcoholism, and domestic violence. These problems were shared live
by the participants, in a public plaza on two consecutive nights, for an
audience of more than 1,500 with projections on the 60-foot diameter
facade of the Omnimax Theater at the Centro Cultural Tijuana.
STORIES: The piece brings together the personal stories of women working
in a specifc industry in Tijuana, Mexico. Their testimonies reveal the real
conditions of working in the industry, a reality that is often times never
spoken about.
BOUNDARIES: personal and private boundaries are dissolved when the
women participating in the piece give voice a large population of women who
are inficted with work related abuse, sexual abuse and domestic violence.
POWER DYNAMICS: The Ominimax Theater at the Centro Cultural Tijuana
has become symbolic because of its infrastructural achievements. Through
the public projections, the women gain agency in exposing their injustices.
A. Identify a group of people who share a common issue
B. Record their stories in a private space
C. Using real-time technology and projection as a tool,
the stories are made public in an outdoor plaza
TIJUANA PROJECTION
Interrogative Design Group
2001 - San Diego, United States + Tijuana, Mexico
Courtesy Interrogative Design Group
For more info about this project visit: http://www.interrogative.org/projects/2001/tijuana-cecut-projection
What do your stories reveal in regards to the boundaries that are faced?
Who are the stakeholders in your narrative? What is their relationship to you as
an individual or collective within your story?
- individuals willing to contribute
personal stories around a specifc
condition
- recorder
- projector
- public space on which to project
30 31 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
MAPPING THE FUTURE, NOW
COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS + MAPPING
A. Identify a team to work with from your neighborhood
B. Engage in conversations with local stakeholders
C. Document through recording or taking notes
D. Analyze fndings as a group
E. Collective imagine future possibilities
Collaborative working, confdence in engaging with your community
Stories, Networks, Imaginaries
Working with an inter-disciplinary team is a method to be able to gain various
perspectives about a certain issue at hand. Each member of the team brings
with them a particular set of skills and knowledge that can compliment the
rest of the group and result in unexpected and creative alternatives. Using
a neighborhoods statement of needs, the inter-disciplinary collective can
choose a need that has been identifed and begin a process of research by
interviewing neighborhood stakeholders. From these conversations, the inter-
disciplinary team will work together to propose design solutions to some of
the most critical needs of the community they are a part of.
This cross-disciplinary class combined the history and theory of social practice
art with aspects of urban research and design. Art students collaborated
with social science students to uncover the needs of various stakeholders
in the Queens community of Corona and to apply their fndings towards the
community conversation surrounding a planned redesign of Corona Plaza.
STORIES: Uncovering the needs of Corona Queens stakeholders through
research on demographics and local politics.
NETWORKS: The Corona Studio Project fosters the coming together or
students in studio art and urban studies
IMAGINARIES: The space that is created by the collaborations allows for
youth to critically engage and ask questions about their neighborhood with
the hopes of imagining future scenarios and solutions to the questions
identifed.
A. Selected a team of students from different disciplines (art + social sciences)
B. Identifed stakeholders in the community
C. Engagement, through conversations
D. Analyzed fndings
E. Used fndings to map and design the future of the space
CORONA STUDIO: TRANSFORMING CORONA PLAZA
Queens Museum + Queens College of the City University of New York
2012 - Corona, Queens, New York
Courtesy of SPQ and Change Administration
For more info about this project visit: http://www.queensmuseum.org/social-practice-queens/
Who are the local stakeholders?
What are the community needs?
Are they being met? If not, why?
- a team of individuals with various
disciplines
- a community to engage with
- maps of the neighborhood
- tape recorder
- notebook
- pen
- markers
32 33 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
SHARING IS CARING
BARTERING KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
A. Select an object or identify a skill set you want to use as a form of exchange
B. Write a description or story in the form of a journal entry or poem
C. Set up a space for participants to engage with
each other in discussion ad trade
D. Collectively create a contract both parties can commit to
Ability to develop a mutually benefcial exchange; develop communication skills
Boundaries, Networks, Imaginaries
The idea of bartering is when individuas or groups of people exchange
goods, services, or knowledge in exchange for other goods or services
without the use of money. This exercise is ment to discuss the possibilities
of interdependence among a group and what that means. As participants
of the exercise, everyone is asked to bring a disposable object that they
own and write a journal entry or poem about the piece. As a group,
members will collectively agree on a code of conduct and rules for echange
and engagement with the collective. While performing the activity, each
participant will have the opportunity to talk to others about their selected
object for barter.
OurGoods is a community of artists, designers and cultural producers
who want to barter skills, spaces and objects. OurGoods supports the
production of new work through barter. OurGoods is a scalable, local
initiative and part of a growing number of alternative models of exchange
in art, design and culture. It is a community of cultural producers
forming relationships amongst each other through skill sharing.
BOUNDARIES: Bartering as a system of exchange provides the space for an
equal playing feld. The idea challenges the idea that we are dependant you
fows of capital to survive; the individual becomes dependant on themselves.
NETWORKS: Ourgoods.org acts as a node where a network of artists,
designers and cultural producers exchange through barter.
IMAGINARIES: The vision of this project explores an alternative to monetary
exchanges and instead values the exchange of skills, spaces and objects.
A. Individuals or collectives identify a need they require
B. Individuals or collective identifes someone with who to barter with
C. A contract is drawn up between the parties
involved to assure exchange will occur
OURGOODS.ORG
Caroline Woolard + Jen Abrams
2008 to present - New York
Courtesy of SPQ and Change Administration
For more info about this project visit: https://ourgoods.org/
What type of exchanges do you partiipate in or see in your everyday life?
What is value?

- skill, space, object
- someone to exchange with
- respect
- honesty
34 35 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
EXPERIMENTAL DRIFTING
DERIVES + PSYCHO-GEOGRAPHY
A. Go for a walk around your neighborhood with
no pre-determined path or goal.
B. Explore your surroundings by being conscious of but not
necessarily following pre-established walkways or street signs
C. Allow yourself to be drawn by the of the terrain
D. Document your journey through photography, drawing or writing
Critical thinking, investigating through emotional connection
Boundaries, Power Dynamics, Imaginaries
A derive is an experimental form of movement through a given context (the
city). The method of a derive can include the element of chance or emotional
response to infuence the movement through the context. Movement can also
be established through a pre-determined set of rules set up before hand. This
method is used to investigate the cities and to reveal moments where the city
is fragmented in function or character.
The Peripatetic Box deals with the idea of portability, miniaturization
and systematic investigation of a given context- in this case the city- and
the emotional response that it provokes. It consists of a toolkit that
provides the opportunity to construct an active guide to the city. The user
of the guide can create their itinerary by answering questions, writing
comments on prepared cards, drawing maps and collecting materials.
BOUNDARIES: While conducting this exercise, the user is being guided my
their feelings and emotions bout the urban they are moving through, these
emotions is what creates the limits nd extents of the journey.
POWER DYNAMICS: The idea tha the user is ultimately creating their own
map, allows for you to question the maps that exist.
IMAGINARIES: The open-ended structure and framework of the toolkit, calls
for multiple perspectives and diverse iterations of the activity so s to begin
and contruct a robust archive of guide created by people on the ground.
A. The tool box and creation of prompts to guide the user
sets the stage for the method of investigation.
B. The city was chosen as the context to investigate
C. Being guided by emotions and prompted by tools in the box, the user
constructs a journey of of individual connections to the urban space.
PERIPATETIC BOX
Simonetta Morro
2007- completed in Salzburg, Austra
Courtesy the artist
For more info about this project visit: http://www.simonettamoro.com
What elements or moments in your walk visually guide you to them? What
directs you away?
What stories do maps tell? Who creates them?
What elements can be explored in creating a qualitative map?
- individual or group
- a site to move through
- tools to document (camera, sketch
book, pencil, pen)
- tool to set up parameters (rules)
36 37 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
STORIES IN UNEXPECTED PLACES
SITE SPECIFIC ORAL HISTORIES
A. Use an existing mental map exercise or conduct
the exercise prior to oral histories
B. Identify a public space, private space, ladmark,
infrastructural element etc. and write or draw tyour memory
or experience about the space you have selected.
C. Go th the location and leave the story your have materialized
to allow for the ublic to engage in your moment.
Finding resources; engagding with the neighborhood history; community
engagement
Stories, Power Dynamics, Network
Creating site specifc oral histories can reveal residents personal memories
and emotions about specifc geographic locations. This exercise can be done
in conjunction with a mental mapping exericise. If your mental map includes
a landmark that has a connection to you, write or draw the story that is
connected through your memory of the space. If you do not have a mental
map, create a list of places that stir your memories and begin to draw or write
out your stories. As a group, or individually go to the site you have chosen and
leave your drawing or writing for the public to be able to view and share in the
connection you share with the space.
[murmur] is a documentary oral history project that records stories and
memories told about specifc geographic locations. They collect and make
accessible peoples personal histories and anecdotes about the places in their
neighborhoods that are important to them. In each of these locations they
install a [murmur] sign with a telephone number on it that anyone can call with
a mobile phone to listen to that story while standing in that exact spot, and
engaging in the physical experience of being right where the story takes place
STORIES: This project creates an alternative history and connection to place
through the diverse accounts that are recorded and available for engagement
with.
POWER DYNAMICS: Allowing individuals to locate spaces (takeing on many
forms) to create a story around its ersonal importance and connection to
people as individuals, challenges the percieved idea that landmarks should
be recognizable to the general public. Intimate stories take on a new layer of
exposing them in the public realm.
NETWORKS: Each story and anecodte is connected through murmurs
initiative.

A. Identifed individuals who have a connection to a
geographic location in their neighborhood
B. Recorded their accounts and personal histories
on the location they identifed
C. Installed signs that directed passersby to a phone number
they could call and listen to someones personal account
D. Maps were produced to direct the general public to the various locations
[MURMUR]
Murmur
2003- multiple locations
Courtesy murmur
For more info about this project visit: http://murmurtoronto.ca/about.php
What stories do landmarks tell?
Who is being represented and do you feel a connection to the story?
- a sheet of paper
- markers
- pencils
- scissors
- *mental map (if you have already
created one)
38 39 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
CONTENT ANALYSIS
A. Read through the document you have selected to analyze
B. Create a coding system to represent actors, actions, and exchanges.
C. Map out one actor at a time (repeating the process
for all the actors identifed in your sample)
D. Look for moments of intersection bewteen actors and
identify the outcomes of these intersections
Critical thinking, making relations that are not clear at frst glance, interpreting
information
Stories Power Dynamics, Networks
Content analysis is a method that is used to analyze the communication of
specifc content. Reading between the lines can allow for you to identify the
actors, the relationships they have between each other, and the types of
exchanges that take place. For this exercise you also need to develop a system
of coding the text that is being read. Actors with power and control can be
highlighted in a certain color, lines of weak relationships can be drawn through
dashed lines, consequences that result from certain actions can be circled
and tied back to the actor that it is related to. The exercise allows you to add a
layer of critical analysis about the way information is passed down.
The investigation was focused on making connection between events in
history. A timeline is organized by time and I wanted to extract actors
and actions that might have been made in a moment in history that
end up having direct affects later on in history. The timeline selected
ranges from 1911 to 1990. The timeline that has been highlighted
depicts a narrative of an under-represented group of practitioners who
have collectively come together in the hopes of creating a more just
and inclusive platform for artistic production and dissemination.
STORIES: The investigation tells the stories of issue related to rights,
inclusivity, and speculation in the arts sector of New York City during 1911 and
1990
POWER DYNAMICS: The investigation brings to light the dynamics that exist
between city and government agencies. The timelines reveals moments of
collective action the result in shifts of power and control.
NETWORKS: The timeline brings to light the networks that have been
created beause of actions taken by certain stakeholders. The relationships
and connections that are created transcend time and forms common stories
around groups in history.

A. I read a timeline produced by the National
Association of Artists Organizations
B. I developed a coding system for the actors, actions they took and
policies that were put in place that later impacted certain populations.
NYC ARTS TIMELINE
Luisa Munera
2013- New York City
Courtesy Luisa Munera
For more info about this project visit: http://urbanatlasproject.wordpress.com
- text document (article, report,
analysis, timeline)
- highlighters (multiple colors)
- pencils
What data is being analyzed and who is it being written for?
Who defnes it and what audience is it being directed to?
40 41 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
About the Exercise:
Lens:
Questions:
Learning Objective
About the Project:
Lenses:
Actions: Actions:
What you need:
CAPTURING LOCAL HISTORIES
Storytelling
A. Select your path & take pictures
B. Print pictures and lay out in order
C. Find scrap wood/
material & glue pictures
D. Drill holes & hang
E.Identify participants for workshop
F. With workshop group,
have them identify stories in
relation to sites on the walk
G. Add stories
H. Using yarn make connections
between stories
I. Form action groups
around shared interests
Critical thinking, making relations that are not clear at frst glance
Stories, Networks, Imaginaries
This activity is used in a workshop setting to be able to analyze local histories
and mobilize residents into collective action. The exercise allows for the
surfacing of stories to emerge. The construction of a DIY tool to capture
stories and make connections between individuals in the neighborhood is a
creative approach to storytelling.
Our project is a tool for community organizers that stems from the
concept of the mosaic; it is also from this concept that we name the
tool and methodology The Mosaic - the cohesion of separate pieces
and parts as a narrative made up from many different narratives.
The Mosaic draws attention to the relationship and interplay between
tangible and intangible and is a dynamic multi-layered approach of
understanding community as praxis. It grants visibility to memories
and stories that may not have a visible or physical presence.
STORIES: The Mosaic offers a way to empower the community members who
embody these narratives through the process of remembering, recording and
retelling.
NETWORKS: The interaction is not just from person to person, but between
individuals and groups and their physical environment.
IMAGINARIES: This process is meant to create new connections and turn
interest groups into action groups, making weak ties strong and leaving the
participant with agency in their own hands.
A. The research team identifed a path to tell local stores
B. Thhey developed a tool to assist in engaging community with the space
C. The group engaged with the community in workshops
to collect stories about sites along the path
D. Upon completeing the workshop the group shared and
discussed stories, insights and future collaborations
THE MOSAIC
Marcea Deker, Rehanna Azimi, Monique Baena-Tan
2014- New York City
Courtesy Sabrina Dorsainvil
For more info about this project visit: http://urbanatlasproject.wordpress.com
- cardboard or scrap wood
- string
- yarn
- post-its
- camera
- glue
-scissors
- power drill
How can you engage the public to engage in the sharing of stories?
How is history represented through personal stories?
What connections can be made between local residents?
CONTRIBUTOR PROJECT
42 URBAN ATLAS GUIDE
GLOSSARY
THE METHODS
Asset Mapping: is a methodology that seeks to uncover and use the strengths within com-
munities as a means for sustainable development.
Community Engagement: Is the process by which community organizations and individu-
als build ongoing, permanent relationships for the purpose of applying a collective vision
for the beneft of a community.
Consciousness Raising: This takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the
attention of a wider group of people on a specifc cause or condition. Some common is-
sues that are discussed are diseases, conficts and movements. CR sessions can be looked
at as the initial entry point into a condition or issue. Thinking and discussing leads to an
expression that then lead to an action.
Derive: A drive is an unplanned journey through a landscape, usually urban, on which
the subtle aesthetic contours of the surrounding architecture and geography subcon-
sciously direct the travellers, with the ultimate goal of encountering an entirely new and
authentic experience.
Direct observation: This can occur through video tape playback or through live observa-
tion. In direct observation, you are making specifc observations of a situation without
infuencing or participating in any way.
Erasure: Is an artform which usually involves selectively erasing words and phrases from a
found text.
Field Research: Field research or feldwork is the collection of information outside of a
laboratory, library or workplace setting.
Happening: A performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as
performance art. Happenings occur anywhere and are often multi-disciplinary and require
active participation of the audience. Key elements of happenings are planned, and artists
sometimes keep room for improvisation. Happenings eliminates the boundary between
the artwork and its viewer.
Mapping: Is creating graphic representations of information using spatial relationships
within the graphic to represent some relationships within the data.
Mental Maps: A mental map refers to a persons point of view and how they perceive their
area of interaction.
Oral Histories: Is the collection and study of historical information about individuals,
families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions
of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who participated in or
observed past events and whose memories and perceptions of these are to be preserved
as an aural record for future generations. Oral history strives to obtain information from
different perspectives, and most of these cannot be found in written sources.
43 www.urbanatlasproject.wordpress.com
Public Intervention: A public art intervention enters a situation outside the art world in
an attempt to change the existing conditions there. For example, intervention art may
attempt to change economic or political situations, or may attempt to make people aware
of a condition that they previously had no knowledge of.
Participant observation: This form of observation requires the researcher to immerse
themselves in the community or situation being studied. Collecting data in this manner
requires the researcher to invest fully with the community in order to know if the direct
observations are valid.
Photojournalism: is a particular form of journalism that creates and uses images in order
to tell a news story.
Surveys: These are written questionnaires and open ended surveys about ideas, percep-
tions and thoughts.
Sociogram: This tool is used to visually map the interpersonal relationships and lines of
communication.
Theater of the Oppressed: Theater of the Oppressed is a form of popular theater created
by and for people engaged in the struggle for liberation. The space allows for people who
want to learn ways of fghting back against oppression in their daily lives.
44
URBAN ATLAS GUIDE - 2014
BIBLIOGRAPHY
RESOURCES
http://womanhouse.refugia.net
www.urbanatlasproject.wordpress.com
http://www.peopleskitchen510.org
http://www.suzannelacy.com
http://dsgnagnc.com/santa-cruz-visible/
http://whitney.org/Collection/HansHaacke
http://agustinawoodgate.com/
http://candychang.com
http://hankwillisthomas.com
http://gothamist.com/2011/09/09/interactive_911_street_art_memorial
http://interrogative.org/projects
http://www.queensmuseum.org/social-practice-queens/
http://ourgoods.org/
http://simonettamoro.com
http://murmurtoronto.ca/about.php