DIY map-making invites citizens to engage more deeply with their city and landscapes through participatory explorations of history. The places we live are more than just a collection of physical elements; they are layered, multifaceted, and shaped by personal stories and unique narratives. Our memories and sense of connection to a place are rooted in its specific context, evoked by a location, a scent, or a shared feeling.

This type of project investigates how narrative and location intersect to broaden historical understanding, using site-specific historical experiences scattered throughout the city. It explores not only how research and analysis are conducted but also why they matter. Key questions include: How can the mapping process reveal hidden patterns or data? In what ways do visualization techniques encode and decode urban realities? What rhetorical messages do we, as designers, embed in our synthesized representations? How does the act of mapping—and the designer’s perspective—shape the research itself? And ultimately, what is gained or lost when we attempt to visualize complexity?

• Maps as Things: What is a Map? 321 Definitions
• Indigenous Approaches to Maps and Mapping
• Feminist Data Visualization
• Maps as Arguments about the World
• Critical Map Design: Get a Better Concept, Get Better Data, Make a Better Map
• Making Maps with Sound
• DIY Cartography
• CSUN University Library Map Collection
• A Cartography Nerd’s Guide to Custom Map-Making