From dot to circle. Urbicide, Cartography and Politics

Abstract

The study addresses the analysis of a selection of maps depicting bombings of cities between the First and Second World Wars. This uncommon type of cartography is now part of the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in some cases and contains keys to understanding the current urban landscape in affected cities. Despite the relative abundance of researches on some iconic urban bombardments, there are few of them that focus specifically on the contemporary cartography itself and its graphic aspects. This work aims to fill the lack of an overall vision of this cartographic heritage in itself and in its context. Based on a selection of significant cases, the history of each document is explored and its graphic language is analysed, seeking possible relationships and evolution over time between what is drawn, who draws it, how it is drawn and what it is drawn for. The study allows us to conclude a joint multiple evolution of the effects of the increasing destructive capacity of war technology on cities, of the collectives and agents involved in its cartographic representation, of the purposes that encouraged its production and of the graphic resources employed, confirming a close relationship between all of these aspects. All of which points to the transcendence of these documents in urban studies: to understand their history, to analyse post-war transformations and the current urban landscape, as well as to configure the collective historical memory of bombed cities.