Digital Tools - New Ways to Explore Urbanism

As seen throughout the three Omeka exhibits referenced in previous pages, a useful modern-day tool to highlight this characteristic of the palimpsest in urbanism is digital tools. Digital tools take many forms, many of which utilize the platform of the Internet. The Omeka tool, for example, which has provided the foundation for this very exhibit as well as the reference exhibits on Boston, Moscow and Istanbul, allows users to create a unique multi-page presentation integrating text, photos and other embedded multimedia content to present a comprehensive and interactive digital narrative. The juxtaposition of textual content with a visual element, whether it takes the form of a Google map locating notable sites on a contemporary map, an equally integrative and multimedia Timeline as the one below, or even still images, allows creators to express the often complex and multi-dimensional nature of an urban city in an incredibly flexible and creative manner. As viewers, one is given the opportunity to utilize some of the most novel and easily accessible means to understand and interpret urban cities- far and near, small and large - in an innovative way, using a simple click of a mouse to transition across centuries or miles. The use of these modern-day, high-tech digital tools to examine these urban cities that often possess histories that date back centuries in and of itself reveal how each generation’s successive interpretations of urbanism, and the evolving means by which they make such analyses and interpretations, ultimately contribute to the urban city’s identity as a palimpsest as well. Digital tools' ability to incorporate sources or evidence from multiple time periods, contexts, disciplines, and genres- say, an 18th century painting of London juxtaposed with a modern-day film clip taken with a smartphone - make our subjective, multilayered approaches to these urban cities an extension of their identity as a palimpsest. They allow us as both creators and viewers to make new connections and discoveries about urban life even if we may not be physically present in the cities we observe. Perhaps this ability to analyze the cities without being present in them through these tools serves as a blessing in disguise, allowing us to do precisely what was discussed in the previous page – to take a step back and remove oneself from the ground to appreciate the grander picture of an urban palimpsest.