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Walking Thoughtfully: Countering the Influence of Egocentric Digital Mapping

Part 1 Dissertation 2021
Hannah Maxey
University of Sheffield | UK
During Covid-19 lockdowns, when going for a walk was one of the few activities available to me, I began to critically reflect upon my walking routes prior to the pandemic. Realising that my walks were often dominated by consumerism and characterised by an over-reliance on digital mapping, I endeavored to become more conscious of my movement, creating a transcript of my thoughts while walking that went on to form the basis of this study. The work critiques the patriarchal, racist and ableist history of solitary walking practice and the lack of access to the inevitably biased information used to create digital mapping services. I argue that Google Maps creates walkers blindly acting in their own interests with little regard for the wider community. The resulting spatialities favour a?uence over embodied experience, leaving the unequal values of historical solitary walking practice unchallenged. Throughout I acknowledge that, in the context of creating a non-consumerist collective, it is intersectional personal experiences, that I can speak of but never speak for, that hold the real value. The study concludes that, with new maps created from such situated knowledges, thoughtful walking can begin to refashion the city's spaces to re?ect collective ideals.

Tutor(s)
Emma Cheatle
2021
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