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Upper Left Cities: A Cultural Atlas of San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle
Compare and contrast San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle through 150 innovative infographic maps that blend traditional cartography with modern graphic design.
Upper Left Cities redefines modern cartography by going into uncharted territory to create a narrative about three great cities through informative and detailed infographic maps.
Explore and compare San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle through:
• wildlife and city trails
• voting records
• commutes
• marathon routes
• food and drink patterns
From the team that brought you Portlandness, this cultural atlas includes more than 150 maps, each using data around a given topic and then translating that to a creative and often unexpected visual format. The result is a perfect blend of form and function, each map is meticulously and ingeniously designed.
The collection of maps cover:
• history
• geography
• social and economic issues
• pop culture
Upper Left Cities redefines modern cartography by going into uncharted territory to create a narrative about three great cities through informative and detailed infographic maps.
Explore and compare San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle through:
• wildlife and city trails
• voting records
• commutes
• marathon routes
• food and drink patterns
From the team that brought you Portlandness, this cultural atlas includes more than 150 maps, each using data around a given topic and then translating that to a creative and often unexpected visual format. The result is a perfect blend of form and function, each map is meticulously and ingeniously designed.
The collection of maps cover:
• history
• geography
• social and economic issues
• pop culture
224 pages, Hardcover
Published September 21, 2021
8 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 17, 2022
Fascinating info. This is a fun book to read and view.
I know San Francisco very well, know Seattle fairly well, barely know Portland, but I’m interested in all three cities and in their similarities & differences and how they relate with one another in various ways. This is a book that aims to show & tell these sorts of statistics.
I actually enjoyed the historical information the best. The current information will of course frequently change. If not for some of the information becoming obsolete this is a book I’d like to own. There are sections that are already obsolete or at least dated such as the covid sub-section.
There weren’t that many but the typos/incorrect information drove me crazy, such as specifying (just in one particular place, not in other places in the book) that the Richmond and Sunset Districts are in the eastern vs. western part of San Francisco. Stern Grove is not in Golden Gate Park, etc. though that latter one might be my eyes. On several pages I had to pull out a magnifying glass and a couple times even it was not sufficiently helpful.
I love maps in books and this book has tons of them, and all kinds of them. There are also lots of other graphics, though the book is text heavy.
It’s divided up into sections. The Contents are: Introduction: Upper Left, Urban Landscapes, Nature and the City, Social Relations, Commerce, Popular Culture. Each of these sections has many sub-sections.
4-1/2 stars, a half star off because in the not too distant future this will function only as a history book. There is already a lot of history in it and much of the “current” content is already history or at least not new.
I know San Francisco very well, know Seattle fairly well, barely know Portland, but I’m interested in all three cities and in their similarities & differences and how they relate with one another in various ways. This is a book that aims to show & tell these sorts of statistics.
I actually enjoyed the historical information the best. The current information will of course frequently change. If not for some of the information becoming obsolete this is a book I’d like to own. There are sections that are already obsolete or at least dated such as the covid sub-section.
There weren’t that many but the typos/incorrect information drove me crazy, such as specifying (just in one particular place, not in other places in the book) that the Richmond and Sunset Districts are in the eastern vs. western part of San Francisco. Stern Grove is not in Golden Gate Park, etc. though that latter one might be my eyes. On several pages I had to pull out a magnifying glass and a couple times even it was not sufficiently helpful.
I love maps in books and this book has tons of them, and all kinds of them. There are also lots of other graphics, though the book is text heavy.
It’s divided up into sections. The Contents are: Introduction: Upper Left, Urban Landscapes, Nature and the City, Social Relations, Commerce, Popular Culture. Each of these sections has many sub-sections.
4-1/2 stars, a half star off because in the not too distant future this will function only as a history book. There is already a lot of history in it and much of the “current” content is already history or at least not new.
August 27, 2021
expanding the infographical premise of their first book, portlandness, geography professors hunter shobe and david banis' new work, upper left cities (written with zuriel van belle), compares, contrasts, and connects seattle, portland, and san francisco. as with their first cultural atlas, upper left cities combines storytelling and graphic maps, this time to offer snapshots of all three cities, as well as the region as a whole.
covering everything from neighborhoods and demographics to bridges, alleys, and graveyards; local fauna, transit, and natural disasters to voting trends, jazz clubs, and homeless encampments; gas prices, covid, and cannabis to beer, video games, and graffiti (and so, so much more), upper left cities is not only an absolute visual delight, but also a relentlessly fascinating portrait of three separate cities, sometimes similar, sometimes altogether dissimilar. though the infographic maps were each gorgeously composed, banis and shobe's essayistic writing is equally alluring, as it so effortlessly infuses the informative with a hearty dose of personality and humor.
there are so many things that make the left coast the best coast, not least having hunter shobe and david banis colorfully quantify the myriad reasons why!
covering everything from neighborhoods and demographics to bridges, alleys, and graveyards; local fauna, transit, and natural disasters to voting trends, jazz clubs, and homeless encampments; gas prices, covid, and cannabis to beer, video games, and graffiti (and so, so much more), upper left cities is not only an absolute visual delight, but also a relentlessly fascinating portrait of three separate cities, sometimes similar, sometimes altogether dissimilar. though the infographic maps were each gorgeously composed, banis and shobe's essayistic writing is equally alluring, as it so effortlessly infuses the informative with a hearty dose of personality and humor.
there are so many things that make the left coast the best coast, not least having hunter shobe and david banis colorfully quantify the myriad reasons why!
November 18, 2021
What a fun book! The authors are channeling their inner Edward Tufte (look him up) and showcasing a variety of data about three West Coast cities: Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco. These cities are said to have a lot in common, and they do, but the authors also show the differences in fun, colorful maps and diagrams.
It's not just income, exports, voting patterns, and normal demographic things like that. They show things rarely compared: distribution and type of street trees, the founding of jazz clubs, locations of breweries and distilleries, locations of gas stations, and prevalence of graffiti. And how there used to be a lot more record stores and typewriters stores (1987) than today.
The visual playfulness is a large part of the fun, but there are some serious data points being presented here. They worked hard to acquire interesting data, and in some cases had to compile it themselves. Good job, guys!
It's not just income, exports, voting patterns, and normal demographic things like that. They show things rarely compared: distribution and type of street trees, the founding of jazz clubs, locations of breweries and distilleries, locations of gas stations, and prevalence of graffiti. And how there used to be a lot more record stores and typewriters stores (1987) than today.
The visual playfulness is a large part of the fun, but there are some serious data points being presented here. They worked hard to acquire interesting data, and in some cases had to compile it themselves. Good job, guys!
July 13, 2022
Really enjoyed this, original and interestingly put together. The only thing stopping it from getting 5 stars is that I found a few omissions/misstated facts for San Francisco that left me wondering if there were the same issues with the other cities. Very minor, but took a little of the enjoyment out of the read.
September 23, 2021
An interesting collection of data points about Seattle, Portland and San Francisco presented in inventive, thoughtfully-designed and varying formats. How and where did our gayborhoods rise and what still exists? How have natural disasters shaped these cities? Where can you still find typewriter stores, film developing, record stores? How did the 2020 BLM protests play out in these cities? What wildlife still calls these areas home?
If you’re interested in cartography, urban planning, geology, graphic design, progressive politics, Northern California and the Pacific Northwest or even Joy Division, you’ll find delights in these pages.
If you’re interested in cartography, urban planning, geology, graphic design, progressive politics, Northern California and the Pacific Northwest or even Joy Division, you’ll find delights in these pages.
January 6, 2022
A great collection of a huge variety of metrics, but there are a couple odd design decisions that jump out in comparison to so many other well-done maps, such as plotting different types of restaurants in almost the exact same shade of red. Still very fun and impressive but I wish a few of these were a bit easier to interpret.
September 23, 2021
As someone who has spent most of their life living in or studying these places professionally, I was impressed with the detailed knowledge brought to bear, particularly the 20th Century history. A treat for geographers and a good gift for transplants.
January 31, 2022
Fun book that gives some insight into the place I am proud to call home! interesting topics and graphs and research. Highly recommend!
December 30, 2022
Slick and often convoluted maps that amount to make-work for urban planning grads.
January 5, 2024
Helpful book for getting to know more about Portland while continuing to deepen my knowledge of SF. Fun and informative maps throughout the book.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews