Given that Huis ten bosch has been lauded for its environmental efforts (see previous post), it seems a shame that more people are not aware of them (although some people may not care, which is another topic altogether). To rectify this gap in awareness, I proposed the following: to create a map that highlights the unseen and unnoticed environmental aspects of Huis ten bosch. Here is the assignment:
Huis ten bosch: a collaborative “alternative” map
In the past, scholars and journalists widely praised Huis ten bosch (HTB) for its “pioneering ecological town planning”, notably its innovations in environmentally-sensitive planning and waste treatment and its vision to “last 1,000 years” (McCormack 1996, p. 98). How are these innovations manifested in the tourist landscape? What is seen and unseen?
In this exercise we will create a map of HTB that represents its ecological efforts, providing an alternative view of the park that are missing from the normal tourist map. First, you will visit your designated area of HTB and walk around its streets, taking photographs of innovations or other things of note that relate to HTB’s environmental awareness. Take 15-20 images and note the exact location of each item. You can also take photos of things that contradict HTB’s stated environmental goals. Following the photography portion, we will map these locations and attach your images in a Google Map. Together we will create a comprehensive “alternative” map of HTB that might be of interest to others who concerned about “ecological town planning” and environmentally-conscious tourists.
To do this activity you need a camera (or SD card), a hand-annotated map, and a computer with internet.
Sakinah, Michelle, Lynn, and Jiin-Shiuan mapping outside the Thriller Fantasy Museum
Watching fish in the canal.
Colorful recycling bins shaped like Dutch buildings.
Notice there is a separate bin for just PET bottle caps
Eddie, James, and Titus all mapping HTB
The following day we were fortunate to have access to the internet at Nagasaki Wesleyan University, so we could complete the exercise. This involved each team downloading their images onto computers, then uploading images onto a photo sharing site like Flikr, then inserting the images, along with descriptions, into a Google Map.
Downloading images from cameras
Comparing points on paper and Google Maps
Adjusting annotations on the paper map
Inserting images into Google Maps
The final product is a mix of obvious environmentally-friendly objects, and others that students “discovered” through their creativity. To view the final alternative map to Huis ten bosch, please click here. I am incredibly pleased with the final map. Students took it very seriously and it gave them an incentive to explore the park with a purpose. In what is otherwise a somewhat boring space of brick and kitsch, this project really made students open their eyes to other ways of seeing and depicting the tourist landscape.
We will do a similar project next week involving a tiny village in Minami-Oguni village, Kumamoto Prefecture. I expect similarly thought-provoking results.