The City Demolished
From Maps4change
map about what?
click here to go to 'the city demolished' wiki
> map of buildings demolished in last twenty years (since 1990) in the city of kolkata (KMC area of 141 wards). the site will be an online archive with separate entries for each of this demolished structures along with the central map featuring the locations of these buildings. 'demolitions' to be considered will include all causes of demolition except natural causes. four kinds of demolished buildings are to be archived: (i) squatter settlements, (ii) factories and production units, (iii) market clusters and commercial buildings, and (iv) residential buildings.
why the map?
> there does not exist any spatial archive on the matter concerned. there are multiple agencies who have information regarding separate types of building. even in such cases, geographic locations of such buildings/clusters are hardly available. the compiled and spatially ordered data archive can be mobilised to various uses - activism, research, art performance etc. the simple visual pattern of these demolitions also throws up an image of how the physical environment of the city has changed since liberalisation.
map for whom?
> for agencies (individuals and organisations) interested in using this data set and in contributing to its compilation. most of such agencies already work on related issues - changing human geography of kolkata, documenting demolition of heritage buildings, anti-slum eviction movements etc. for people interested in relating their human stories to this changes in the built environment.
how to make the map?
> some amount of info regarding demolished buildings have been collected. these demolished buildings have been located on ward-scale paper map of the city through personal conversations with activists, researchers, photographers etc. google earth is being used to find out the lat-long coordinates of these locations. a ms excel database is being prepared to be made downloadable from the site. open layers api is used to display these location on the map using google street map base layer (as detailed map of the area from openstreetmap becomes available, the base layer will shift to that). wordpress.com is used to build the site. the map becomes a separate page on the site, while all demolished buildings will have their separate blog entry. further discussion about individual buildings can take place through comments in the blog entry concerned.
what will be done by march 15?
> data on major demolished buildings/clusters is compiled and spatially ordered. all important factories and squatetr settlement sites will be covered. demolished establishments of residential and commercial nature are more difficult to locate. the site is up and functioning. will separate entries for these buildings. the map working with basic features like selection of what type of demlished buildings to be displayed. most importantly, the way the site works and how further info can be submitted and incorporated will be demonstrated and explained to all the collaborating agencies.
By Riju
