GEOG 371 - Cultural Atlas Production

What makes a place special? What does a place feel like? Sound like? Smell like? These are the kinds of questions examined in a cultural atlas. Our experience of a place is as diverse and varied as the individuals engaging in and around that place. Following in the tradition of cultural atlases like Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas by Rebecca Solnit, and Portlandness: A Cultural Atlas by David Banis and Hunter Shobe, this class will conceptualize, design, and create a cultural atlas! The class will work as a team to create a print atlas from start to finish; choosing topics, gathering data, designing the layout of the atlas, and finally working through the publishing process. Each student will be individually responsible for a 2-page layout that will be featured in the atlas, as well as other group responsibilities for editing and production. The theme of the atlas will either be a specific place (ex. a city, neighborhood, or region) or a particular topic (ex. food, or migration). The lecture topics and labs for this course will be focused on how to use different types of maps, representation methods, and graphic forms to tell a story, basic design principles, and the production process. Various software applications and platforms will be used to support the creation of the 2-page layouts and the overall atlas. Laboratory work and field work is required. Prerequisite(s): GEOG 225 Offered occasionaly. (4 Credits)