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Mapping London: Making Sense of the City
Mapping Making Sense of the City is a beautiful, compelling anthology of over six centuries of London maps, tracing the mesmerising evolution of the city and exploring the hopes and fears of its inhabitants as history unfolds. Now released in Paperback.
The book is a cartographic journey, charting the influence of Roman city planning, Saxon feudalism, Medieval tumult, imperial hubris, contemporary town planning and more on this great metropolis. It includes over 200 maps, from literary imaginings and utopian prophecies to portrayals of London in contemporary computer games, comics and online—as well as the timeless Monopoly board.
The maps in this comprehensive survey are allowed to speak for themselves, revealing not only their political and social context, but also the dreams of their makers and the drama of their creation. The maps are often objects of great skill and beauty themselves, with the names of the greatest of their makers still revered today.
Much more is revealed by the maps than the cartographers themselves could have envisaged, they provide enthralling insights into events including the Great Fire of London, the Plague and the Industrial Revolution. The city's more recent history is also investigated, including the irrevocable change of the two World Wars and the redevelopment planned for the 2012 Olympics.
The book is split into four sections, each beginning with a short introduction and beautifully illustrated by the maps London Change and Growth; Serving the City; Living in the City; and Imagining London.
Including engaging and illuminating essays exploring the history of the maps and how they have been used for social, political and commercial purposes, Mapping Making Sense of the City is a lavishly illustrated book which explores the city through the ages in all its labyrinthine glory. Perfect both for gifts and for all those serious about maps and cartography.
The book is a cartographic journey, charting the influence of Roman city planning, Saxon feudalism, Medieval tumult, imperial hubris, contemporary town planning and more on this great metropolis. It includes over 200 maps, from literary imaginings and utopian prophecies to portrayals of London in contemporary computer games, comics and online—as well as the timeless Monopoly board.
The maps in this comprehensive survey are allowed to speak for themselves, revealing not only their political and social context, but also the dreams of their makers and the drama of their creation. The maps are often objects of great skill and beauty themselves, with the names of the greatest of their makers still revered today.
Much more is revealed by the maps than the cartographers themselves could have envisaged, they provide enthralling insights into events including the Great Fire of London, the Plague and the Industrial Revolution. The city's more recent history is also investigated, including the irrevocable change of the two World Wars and the redevelopment planned for the 2012 Olympics.
The book is split into four sections, each beginning with a short introduction and beautifully illustrated by the maps London Change and Growth; Serving the City; Living in the City; and Imagining London.
Including engaging and illuminating essays exploring the history of the maps and how they have been used for social, political and commercial purposes, Mapping Making Sense of the City is a lavishly illustrated book which explores the city through the ages in all its labyrinthine glory. Perfect both for gifts and for all those serious about maps and cartography.
278 pages, Hardcover
First published December 4, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 1, 2019
More than any other city in the world, London is a metropolis defined by its maps. There is no better example of this than two iconic works: Harry Beck's famous diagrammatic map of the London Underground and the indispensable London A-Z Guide. With one a simplified presentation of the routes of London's light rail system and the other an effort to chart in detail the myriad roads of the city the two could not be more dissimilar, yet they are both depictions of the same geographic place designed to help people better access them.
Such comparisons are at the heart of Simon Foxell's book. In it he examines the ways in which people have represented London over the centuries by showing the various maps created for that purpose. He divides his presentation into categories, demonstrating how people drafted maps to understand all sorts of details about the city, from its geographic pathways to the everyday lives people led. While some of these maps detailed the range and vagaries of life in the city, others defined boundaries designed to make the city governable. Foxell supplements these maps with both descriptive captions and a text explaining the history of such efforts. From them emerges an appreciation of how maps helped Londoners to understand the city in which they lived, which they often did through a process of sectioning, graphing, and labeling that helped them to process the mass of details about their city into a medium that helped them to better comprehend their often chaotic environment.
While Foxell's written explanations provide a helpful context for interpreting the maps he analyzes, it is the reproduction of the maps themselves which best make his points, and which make his book such a pleasure to read. Together the combination provides an engaging description of the history of mapping London and what those maps reveal about the evolution of the city, one that appeals both to fans of the city and students of cartography.
Such comparisons are at the heart of Simon Foxell's book. In it he examines the ways in which people have represented London over the centuries by showing the various maps created for that purpose. He divides his presentation into categories, demonstrating how people drafted maps to understand all sorts of details about the city, from its geographic pathways to the everyday lives people led. While some of these maps detailed the range and vagaries of life in the city, others defined boundaries designed to make the city governable. Foxell supplements these maps with both descriptive captions and a text explaining the history of such efforts. From them emerges an appreciation of how maps helped Londoners to understand the city in which they lived, which they often did through a process of sectioning, graphing, and labeling that helped them to process the mass of details about their city into a medium that helped them to better comprehend their often chaotic environment.
While Foxell's written explanations provide a helpful context for interpreting the maps he analyzes, it is the reproduction of the maps themselves which best make his points, and which make his book such a pleasure to read. Together the combination provides an engaging description of the history of mapping London and what those maps reveal about the evolution of the city, one that appeals both to fans of the city and students of cartography.
July 5, 2012
Beautiful and thought provoking maps cover the growth of London on many levels and through many centuries. This is a lovely book and one that will amaze any one living in London. The growth of the city since the Victorian period is hard to growth until you see a map of London in 1800 that shows the vegetable patches of South Kensington and Chelsea shown clearly. Maps reach beyond street plans to the growth of infrastructure like the Underground and underground rivers through to images of what London might look like in the future. A delight to any lover of maps or one curious about cities and their growth.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews