内容摘要：Just as Mercator painted an image that prominently represented his part of the world, Africans, too, need to lead the way in pushing for what they want, Ogundairo said. One missing factor is that Africans have not insisted enough on change, in her view. It’s why her campaign is also urging African countries and the African Union to be particular about how they are represented on the map.

Just as Mercator painted an image that prominently represented his part of the world, Africans, too, need to lead the way in pushing for what they want, Ogundairo said. One missing factor is that Africans have not insisted enough on change, in her view. It’s why her campaign is also urging African countries and the African Union to be particular about how they are represented on the map.

The new projection tries to correct the Robinson projection, created in 1963 by American Arthur H Robinson. Many scientists use Robinson’s map because it is more visually balanced, although it compromises on area, size and scale, and particularly enlarges areas close to the north and south poles.“We tried to come up with a version of Robinson that does not distort area,” Jenny explained. “So we stretched it in a way such that the different areas are not enlarged or shrunken. So Greenland is 14 times smaller than Africa on the globe, and it’s also 14 times smaller on the Equal Earth map.”

Jenny said the team never set out specifically to correct some of the most highlighted errors of the Mercator projection. Subconsciously, though, he said, they knew they wanted their map to better represent historically distorted regions like Africa.“I would guess any reasonable geographer would support that idea,” the scientist said.Equal Earth rose in popularity after a NASA scientist saw it online right after it was published, and the organisation immediately switched to it.

The World Bank, too, has picked it up. The institution, since 2013, has experimented with different projections, including the Robinson map, but in 2024 settled on the Equal Earth map.“The World Bank Group is committed to ensuring accurate representation of all people, on all platforms,” a spokesperson told Al Jazeera.

Progress is slow but steady, Ogundairo of Africa No Filter said. Prominent organisations changing their stances means a universal pivot is possible, she said. Yet, there’s much more work to be done by Africans, she added.

Just as Mercator painted an image that prominently represented his part of the world, Africans, too, need to lead the way in pushing for what they want, Ogundairo said. One missing factor is that Africans have not insisted enough on change, in her view. It’s why her campaign is also urging African countries and the African Union to be particular about how they are represented on the map.In a 2022 survey by Hankook Research, 54.9 percent of respondents said they approved of moving the capital to Sejong, but 51.7 percent disapproved of moving the National Assembly and the president’s office out of Seoul.

“As all of the country’s talent pool and key infrastructure are staying within Seoul, the country needs to invest in developing our other major cities,” Park told Al Jazeera.“For Sejong, this means combining with neighbouring Daejeon to become the nation’s centre for administration and research.”

Park believes that the country’s five major cities outside the greater Seoul area should have at least 4 million residents to maintain healthy urbanisation.Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city, has 3.26 million people. Last year, the Korea Employment Information Service officially categorised Busan as being at risk of extinction due to record-low birth rates and a declining young workforce.