Idea inspired while Dr. K. was "Learning from London"
7/26/01 sitting in Hoxton Square

While "learning from London" in July 2001, dr. k stumbled upon a somewhat ramshackle art gallery hosting a show by Young Artists of London.  Among the lovely work were several "memory maps" by an artist named Anna Lee.  I contacted Anna by email and she gave me permission to copy this fragment of one of her maps, which is on a post card I got at the show.

I was so impressed by the way her map detours the city's geography into a "cognitive mapping" of what is meaningful and memorable in the individual's salient landscape.  Her mapping foregrounds the people who etch meaning onto the landscape, both physical and memorable.  These cognitive mappings re-member a very personal and particular "London."

• Using the model of Anna Lee's map here, make your own Memory Map of your significant urban landscape in the city/town/neighborhood of their youth.  It can be any size, but you should then try to scan it or reduce it to the size of a standard sheet of paper 8 1/2 x 11 inches.

• If any of you wish to arrange to work with high school or elementary school kids in South Phoenix, this makes a nice group project.  You can run a workshop and collaborate with the kids to get them to make memory maps of their South Phoenix neighborhoods.

• Check out the research reports from one group who did this in 2002, and some individual students' maps.

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