This summer, I will be researching the historical origins of computer mapping technologies, known as geographic information systems (GIS), and their impact on the urban and environmental planning field. I’m interested in this topic because it combines several of my interests. I am a history major with a minor in urban planning, and I have also taken several classes through the Geographic Information Science combined pathways program. After graduation, I hope to either attend graduate school or work in the urban planning field.
Today in the planning field, like many fields, there is an emphasis on using data analysis to make decisions, because data helps us better understand complex situations and make seemingly bias-free decisions. In a field like city planning, most data have a spatial component: information about a house, census tract, bridge, etc., which makes it mappable in a GIS. I’ve always been interested in how science and technology have changed the world, so I became interested in the topic of GIS history after seeing how ubiquitous it is in the planning field. What new possibilities were created with the invention of this new technology?
I have been working on this Honors in the Major Project for two semesters already, and one of the most interesting themes I’ve discovered is the link between the environmental movement and the invention of GIS. New American environmental regulations of the 1960s-70s, spurred by the environmental movement, required a level of environmental data that was simply not available at the time. Experimental computer scientists worked to find a solution to this problem with the advancing computer technologies of the time to create some of the first GIS systems. To further my research into the origins of GIS technology, I will be travelling to Washington, D.C., to visit the Library of Congress’s History of Computer Cartography and Geographic Information Sciences Archive, which contains documents from four key early GIS developers.
So far in this research, it’s been a challenge working through very technical primary sources describing data structures and types of hardware. I’m aiming to focus on the ideas behind GIS development, such as aims for environmental planning. Another example of this I’ve come across is that early GIS developers cite the landscape architect Ian McHarg’s work as inspiring their new technology. His approach to city planning is evident in the title of his famous book, Design with Nature (1969). One of his key methods was overlaying many map layers of various social and environmental factors to plan the optimal locations for different city functions. Overlaying and conducting computational analysis of more than two or three layers was something simply not possible before the computerized maps of GIS, so his methods and approach are an example of a new type of planning made possible by GIS. I plan on visiting the Ian McHarg Collection at the University of Pennsylvania’s Architectural Archives to analyze this historical case study of the reciprocal relationship between GIS and urban planning.
A personal connection I have to this project is that I grew up in one of Ian McHarg’s planned communities—The Woodlands, Texas. I am excited to dive into this research to discover the hidden connections between the environmental movement, the computer revolution, and urban planning.
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