From Analogy to Coexistence

Over the past five years, cartographic practices have been profoundly renewed and have mainly been concentrated within large metropolises, where maps are usually found in the subway, in the street (street furniture) or in paperback city guides. ese maps are now available on the Internet and by extension on mobile phones, accompanying individuals as they move from place to place. Augmented by means of egocentering1, telecommunicating and co-production, maps have become much more complex objects, which have changed in terms of role and responsibility. Indeed, the role of the map, as well as its recent evolution, allows a re-evaluation of the opportunities and challenges related to the contemporary urban environment. e map is more than ever a remarkable technical object which can be harnessed for greater mobility and for planning more complex spaces. However, thus augmented, rarely have maps retained their former illusion of being analogous of the space they represent, which increases the risk that we end up shaping cities according to map images, as misleading as they may be.