Cartographic Styles Used in Spatial Planning Maps to Visualise Uncertain, Unfinished and Imagined Content

Abstract

Traditionally, maps aspire to be as precise, clear, and unambiguous as possible. In spatial planning, however, the opposite is needed sometimes. Spatial planners increasingly have to deal with complex, multi-layered, and interdisciplinary problems. Often, there exists no ‘main problem’ to start with. Instead, planners are confronted with a heap of unsolved conflicts and tasks with unclear priority (see e.g., Figure 1). Such tasks can range from resolving the everyday traffic jam at a certain spot in the city to planning a new railway through a valley or ensuring enough affordable housing in an entire region for the next 15 years. During the creative process of finding solutions for such problems, planners create maps. The purpose thereby is manyfold: To get an overview of the situation; to play with bold or seemingly impossible ideas; to gain new insights; or to test, communicate, and preserve ideas, hypotheses, and concepts.