Multiscalar Digital Maps: A Text for Learning About Spatial Justice of Pawnshops

• In Event: Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: Technology and Equity

Abstract

This paper focuses on digital maps as part of a module on spatial justice issues regarding diversity of and access to mainstream (e.g., banks) and alternative (e.g., pawnshops, check cashers) financial institutions. Digital technologies enable the formation of conjectures about spatial inequities through coordination of spatial data on multi-scalar, data-rich maps. The module was piloted by a mathematics teacher in a high school in a low-income, urban neighborhood. This paper investigates how students used digital scalable maps toward developing an understanding of the local spatial distribution of financial institutions. Results present two comparative cases that exemplify the maps’ multiple entry points, from meaning-making out of data at local scales to interpreting map coloration at city levels of scale.

Authors

• Laurie Rubel, Brooklyn College - CUNY

• Vivian Y. Lim, University of Pennsylvania

• Maren Hall-Wieckert, The City University of New York