Slide deck prepared for Activating Urban Commons. Course instructor Peter Pennefather. Faculty of Information. University of Toronto. 2013. Michelle Gay

1. The creation of thick space –
maps + information
Referencing readings:
Hazel Easthope – A Place Called Home
Katharine Willis, Jens Geelhaar – Information Places:
Navigating Interfaces between Physical and Digital
Space
Michelle Gay, 2013.
For: Peter Pennefather. KMD4000, Faculty of Informations, University of Toronto.

3. Spatial information

4. Spatial information
Willis & Geelhaar (2009) suggest that one type of information we encounter
is spatial. Their text explores the notion and sense of ‘self’ and ‘other’ in the
conceptualization of space or place. They look at resonances and
differences between physical and digital space through both paper and
digital mapping projects.
Easthope’s (2004) concepts weave together social construction of and
interconnections between self and place as well.
Self/space/place: seem to be fundamental building blocks of finding/place
making/place. Whether abstract, thick or thin, home or cosmos, physical or
virtual – all facets work to help people find ‘way’ and make ‘place’.

5. Spatial information Questions
• MG.Q1: combing these two articles, how do we interpret, navigate and
negotiate the phenomenon of human consciousness (self?) in a
space/time grid?
• MG.Q2: does the ‘self’ and ‘sense of place’ change when the space/time
Cartesian grid incorporates a digital or virtual dimension?
• Is the virtual dimension another abstract representation of space that gets
re-imagined and incorporated into our conceptualization of place? Or does
it bring something different to the notion of place. (I’m thinking
interconnectedness with others, and memory -- that abstract
representations of place [maps] alone don’t necessarily promote these.)
• MG.Q3: does this virtual dimension compete with or fold into the sense of
self within physical place ?
• Does this become an ‘enhanced or augmented’ place or ‘enfeebled’ place
(Easthope)?

6. Creation of thick space

7. Creation of thick space
Heidegger’s’ concepts of thick-space and thinspace’ and Bourdieu’s ‘habitus’ are frameworks
which can help understand humans in space.
A ‘sense of self’ seems implicitly connected to
‘thick space’. ‘Self’ is not separable from ‘Place’,
together they are like a saturated-solution.

8. Creation of thick space
• MG.Q4: What happens with sense of self/place in a new urban
development – such as a vertical condo-village?
• Can the Lisgar square, and our research and writing on activating urban
commons, develop or uncover placemaking/wayfinding strategies to help
new communities to form? How can we encourage Lisgar Square to
become a ‘thick’ space?
• MG.Q5: How can city planning departments and processes help with the
staging of creating thick spaces? Is this incorporated into real decisions
around the planning of a “Regeneration” neighbourhood?
• Perhaps different terminology is used in city planning, but can we
determine if the concepts and philosophies are being incorporated into
the planning process in the City of Toronto?

9. Space to Place

10. Space to place
• Information exists in places – predominantly
visual forms and structures are easily identified –
and then acted upon by people. These forms and
structures make it easier for us to make
associations with, and begin to imbue space with
narratives and social meanings – ie. creating
place. (Willis & Geelhaar, p. 209)
• Space becomes place when embedded with
narratives that resonate with a ‘self’. As Easthope
suggests, the concept of home is both
sociological and psychological. (Easthope, p. 135)

11. Mapping / place-based information.
Digital and physical representations.
Maps help people develop an IMAGE of a space or route. Here I’m
reminded of Lynch’s concept about the importance of people being
able to ‘imagine’ the spaces they inhabit - which contributes to and
helps create our notion of place. (Lynch, 1960)
• Suggestion by Willis & Gelhaar that GPS digital maps deliver
information in INCREMENTS and that the paper map offers an
OVERVIEW and fuller context.
• MG: Q6: How does INCREMENTAL delivery of information affect our
ability to build ‘thick space’?
• MG.Project Challenge: conceptualize a 3dimensional (or is it
4dimensional – x,y,z + time) visualization of “Lisgar SquareD”

12. Mapping / place-based information.
Digital and physical representations.

13. Mapping / placebased information.
Digital and physical
representations.
Project Challenge:
3D/4D Virtual Self/Place Sketch
of Active participant within a mapped
bounded space.
Using Lisgar Square TORONTO as
place reference.
MG – Oct 9, 2013

14. Mapping / placebased information.
Digital and physical
representations.
Conceptualized “Place” cloud – filled with shareable, retrievable
data and information.
Actors can ‘triangulate’ with any node through local server. Use
pump.io (Brenshausen, 2013) model as Lisgar Square server?

15. Mapping / place-based information.
Digital and physical representations.
Information modalities: physical, digital,
memory

16. Mapping / place-based information.
Digital and physical representations.
information as stories.
What are they? Location-based, poetic,
Practical, informative, exploratory

17. references
Behrenshausen, Bryan . (2013). pump.io: the decentralized social network
that's really fun. Retrieved from http://opensource.com/life/13/7/pumpio
Easthope, Hazel.(2004). A Place Called Home. In Housing, Theory and Society.
Vol 21. No 3. DOI: 10.1090/14036090410021360
Gay, Michelle. (2013). ThoughtMap. Ink drawing with found map, dried leaf
and pin. Slide 2.
Gay, Michelle. (2013). WovenSpace: Cartesian Grid, with Ink spill. Slide 3.
Lynch, Kevin. (1960). The City Images and Its Elements. In The Image of the
City. Cambridge [Mass.] : M.I.T. Press & Harvard Univ. Press, 1960.
Melville, Herman. "Moby-Dick or, The Whale. 1851." Evanston and Chicago IL:
Northwestern UP (1988).
Willis, Katharine, & Geelhaar, Jens. (2009). Information Places: Navigating
Interfaces between Physical and Digital Space. In Foth, M. (2009).
Handbook of research on urban informatics: The practice and promise of
the real-time city. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.