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aesthetics-urban renewal

The visualization aims to show how maps, especially those used in the context of urban policymaking, are politicizing certain kinds of aesthetics about how the city should look. There are conflicting meanings of what is public use and the definitions of blight, which index social and political dimensions of how urban life is spatially located. How might you visualize these two arguments in the image? Could you perhaps show an X and Y axis of demographics of these areas which are classified as blight ?

Problem Area Map

The visual is a found image, taken from the National Capital Parks and Planning Commission, Washington, DC. Library of Congress. Is is not clear in which year it was published, but it seems historical. The black and white color adds to that impression. The grayscale makes it harder to interpret which areas are "obsolete" and "blighted" – but the darker shade draws attention to the "inner city" as a problem area.

Problem Area Map (enriching)

The visual is interesting, and I would love to hear more about the archive that it seems to come from. At this point it is not yet clear what the ethnographic purchase of the image is -- but it could easily become relevant. Are there any other images that you could juxtapose/contrast it with?You could take a look at Danica's caption and visual of federal land ownership in the US -- what kind of sentiments are usually linked to the map that you are showing us here?