Abstract/Summary

This thesis proposes a novel methodology for the creation of the Propositional Walking Map, a new type of walking map, through the definition of a series of Approaches to Propositional Walking Map Making that expand and contribute to the definition of a Perecquian Fieldwork within the theoretical contexts and literatures of the Endotic. The wide range of George Perec’s experimental works (novels, essays, films, crosswords puzzles, archive systems, fieldwork) is located within the contemporaneous writings of Henri Lefebvre, Michel de Certeau, Guy Debord, Raoul Vaneigem, Roland Barthes and Italo Calvino, and the posthumous publication of Benjamin’s arcades project in 1972, with a focus on the Everyday human experience of the city. The thesis examines Perec's strategies for engaging the everyday through his writings to derive approaches to the Propositional Walking Map. It argues that the transit from novel to map addresses the general transition from systems and structures to practices and performances identified with the ‘emergence of the quotidien as a central notion in modern culture’ (Sheringham, 2009, p. 292) moving from the discursive (the novel) to the figural (the map). The research is underpinned by an approach to theorising practice, using as a case study the prototypes of propositional walking maps produced between 2005 and 2015 with groups of contributors and collaborators, under the organisation Touching the City led by the researcher. The thesis employs Gillian Rose’s Discourse Analysis to trace the chronological evolution of the London based Propositional Walking Maps as groups of statements which structured the way the thing was thought. The intertextuality of the propositional map is as a Foucauldian 'discursive formation' with aims to establish its own particular discourse. Drawing on the literature review, the thesis develops the Perecquian approaches of analysis that form one of the main contributions to knowledge of this thesis as an appropriately flexible discipline for the multi-faceted environments of Perecquian enquiry. To this end, it proposes two novel sets of Perecquian enquiry to inform propositional map making: Perec Approaches and Perecplus Approaches. Summarised in a comprehensive chart, the Perec Approaches and Perecplus Approaches are then employed to analyse the case studies. The thesis concludes by re-locating the evolution of the Propositional Map, Perecquian fieldwork and the theoretical realm of the Everyday of which Georges Perec is a fundamental part. The practice of the Propositional Walking Map aims to enable the formulation of Self-Cities for an improved sense of belonging within the everyday for everyone and is intended to contribute practically, considering the low setting up and environmental costs, to achieving enhanced engagement, reward and wellbeing in the minor public spaces of the city.