Phd project: Cartopology – Marlies Vermeulen

Architecture and urban planning today are mostly characterized by the use of plans based on standardised notational systems and are therefore inefficient in the representation of specific and local spatial- and usage qualities. Urban space is always used in a particular way. Yet, by using conventional drawing methods, plans contain generic information and no local insights can be derived from it. My research focuses on what may be overlooked: the un- exercised act of attending to local qualities. Cartopology, a made-up name for the field in which my independent practice, Dear Hunter, is active, aims to combine anthropological fieldwork with cartographical techniques to notate the local qualities of space. But how to learn to do so? As part of my research, I aim to learn from and with cartopgraphy and anthropology. In my research, I reflect on how to become a good cartopologist and what a succesfull cartopological map should contain. Assuming that Dear Hunters’ work is intrinsically rooted in both cartography and anthropology, its practice forms a perfect playground for this PhD. Titled ‘Doing Cartopology’, this PhD already clarifies that the act of practicing Cartopology forms a vast amount of the actual research.