Lecture for a workshop that teaches the basics of cognitive mapping and psycho-geography, having Beirut as a Background. Held at Altcity in Beirut

1. Workshop held on the January
23rd, 2016 in AltCity

3. 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

4. I AM …

5. … AND I WOULD
LIKE TO MEET YOU

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

45. SO WHAT IS
COGNITIVE MAPPING?

46. “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

47. “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.”

49. 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.

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

53. I AM A TOURIST AND I
WANT TO EXPLORE
BEIRUT THROUGH YOUR
SUBJECTIVE EYES …

54. 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

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

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

61. WHEN YOU DRAW YOUR
MAP EXCHANGE IT WITH
YOUR MATE AND GO
EXPLORE HIS MAP

62. SHARE YOUR FINDINGS
(photos, sketches, models, films,…)
WITH US ON
#emotionalbeirut
@richartkhalil

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

64. “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