Locating London’s Past

I selected locating London’s past because of my addiction to the city. The website is mainly composed of three maps: John Rocque’s Survey of London, Westminster & Southwark, 1746, Ordnance Survey, 1st edition map of London 1863-80, and the contemporary Google map of London. London is challenging to map out because nobody can draw an accurate boundary for London. London can be divided into inner London and outer London. Besides, as an international city, it has been expanding day by day in response to the increasing population. This is why there is a shared assumption of the three maps: creators of the three maps, especially the older ones, assumed that there were clear borders of London. Based on that assumption, places that were included on a London map were seen as part of London, where places that were not included were outside London.

I think the map in 1746 was designed for the city government as well as businessmen at the time. The map was designed from John Rocque’s perspective. As an immigrant from Switzerland to London at the time, he designed the map for commercial purposes. The map assumed that readers would be people who had certain knowledge on London since there was no detail on the districts or ordinary buildings. The lack of details on districts and ordinary buildings was the main obscurity of the map. Some features of the map reflected and revealed people’s understanding of landscape in the mid-1700s. For example, the map revealed the role of Christianity in the Anglo society. Churches were recorded in detail. The map also revealed London in its pre-industrial revolution period, as industrial buildings were under-represented.

The map in 1863-1880 was designed for urban planners and public health campaigners. It was mapped by the Ordnance Survey, the first national mapping agency. Since the map was created from the perspective of city administrators, lots of administrative information was included. For example, names of the districts were included on the map and the blocks were presented in details. It might be because health campaigners urged the agency to produce comprehensive maps so they could solve public health problems through urban planning, as London was notorious for its public health issues in the 1800s. Due to the map’s administrative purpose, it failed to provide details on small stores. Through the map, we might be able to find the nearest bank, but we could not find the nearest bakery or any other stores for errands.

If I had a chance to design an alternative map for the 21st century, I would make it timeless: due to the time constraint on surveying, all the maps introduced in the project, even the Google map, reflect the landscape at a specific point in the timeline. However, with the evolution of technology, we are able to build interactive map nowadays. Hence, I would build a Waze-like map for London, which people are allowed to report new stores or destinations they find every day.