What is it about?
Interactive maps are increasingly used in urban planning, but their role in shaping knowledge is not well understood. This paper explores how approaches from feminist geography, cultural studies, and information visualization can inform their design. It examines how interactive maps can show relationships between social life and the built environment by enabling comparisons across time, infrastructure, and patterns of use. Using examples from MIT’s Senseable Lab, it also considers how interactive exploration can support user engagement and reflect diverse urban experiences.
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Why is it important?
Interactive maps are widely used in urban planning but rarely examined as tools that shape knowledge. This paper is timely as data-driven approaches gain influence in decision-making. It introduces new perspectives from feminist geography, cultural studies, and information visualization to show how map design can reveal overlooked social dynamics and diverse experiences. This contributes to more critical and inclusive ways of understanding and planning cities.
Perspectives
Working on this article was particularly engaging because it connects theoretical perspectives with practical design questions. It was interesting to reflect on how something as familiar as maps can influence the way we perceive and understand urban life. I hope the paper encourages readers to look at interactive maps more critically and to see their potential beyond purely technical tools.
Ulrike Felsing
Lucerne School of Design, Film and Art
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Visualizing the interplay between social and built
space, Information Design Journal, December 2025, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/idj.25003.fel.
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