Cartopology: where the map, the person, and the place come together
“Which map you use determines which paths you take on a walk,” says Marlies Vermeulen. “Which map a policy officer uses determines which decisions are made about a neighbourhood.”
Marlies obtained her PhD in cartopology: a way of making maps that contributes to creating a better understanding between people and their living environment. Her artistic research helps capture places in a new way, in which people’s everyday experiences take centre stage.
Knowing the neighbourhood from within
For 12 years, Marlies and her partner have been travelling from place to place with a container. In this way, at the request of municipalities throughout Europe, she settles in a particular area for up to around three months. “The container functions as both a living and working space; as a result, we are completely dependent on the new environment,” says Marlies. “In this way, we really learn what is going on in a particular neighbourhood.” They subsequently map their experiences and observations. “This creates an additional perspective that municipalities can take into account when ultimately making policy decisions about a living environment,” Marlies explains.
An example of an issue Marlies works on emerged during her fieldwork in Hasselt, where she was given a tourist map of the city. When she compared this with the map on Google Maps, she discovered that the city centre was depicted as larger on the tourist map than on Google Maps. “Although the map may therefore be geographically less accurate, it also shows what is considered important by the city itself,” Marlies explains. “The stylistic choice of the map is also very interesting. Despite the distorted dimensions, the map uses a graphic design resembling a route map, where distances are precisely what matters most. As a result, the map may be misleading, perhaps even unintentionally,” says Marlies.
Marlies Vermeulen is an artistic researcher at What Art Knows (Zuyd University of Applied Sciences), teacher, and co-founder of the Institute of Cartopology. She developed the new discipline of cartopology during her PhD research and defended her PhD at Maastricht University in June 2026.
Cartopology
Most traditional maps are topographical or thematic; they show, among other things, roads, boundaries and elevations. Such maps contain a lot of information, but according to Marlies, they leave just as much out. “Precisely that missing knowledge is important when making decisions about a neighbourhood,” Marlies explains. From this idea, Marlies developed the term “cartopology.”
Cartopology is a contraction of the terms cartography and anthropology. Within cartopology, the relationship between people and their living environment is examined, as well as how that relationship can also be made visible in a map. “This takes shape by not seeing the map as a document that holds all the knowledge, but as a means of creating dialogue between the map, the mapmaker and the place,” says Marlies.
Artistic research
“Artists make art and scientists conduct research; that separation is quickly made,” says Marlies. “However, I do not fit into either of those boxes.” For this reason, Marlies chose artistic research, in which art and science come together. According to Marlies, developing an appropriate form for her dissertation did present the necessary challenges. Ultimately, instead of a traditional dissertation, Marlies created a handmade travel kit that the reader can literally open. When the travel kit is opened, the reader is confronted with a map of a mountain. The mountain forms the table of contents of her research, and the reader can start at the bottom of the mountain.
From this metaphor, Marlies develops her dissertation through three central propositions that run from bottom to top. The first proposition concerns what cartopology is and the importance of being present in a place, such as when Marlies stays in a neighbourhood with her container. The second proposition revolves around her position as an artistic researcher between science and art. When do you write, when do you draw, and how does knowledge emerge from these processes? The third proposition concerns meaning-making. How do scale, symbolism and proportions influence the way we understand a place?
The reader is invited to create their own path upwards. The different routes consist of all kinds of stops on the mountain. Along the route are base camps with theoretically grounded pieces, stations with personal anecdotes and outposts in which Marlies invites the reader to do something with cartopology themselves. Each stop has its own booklet, which also consists of accompanying maps.
Berghut Halverwege
Marlies’ research develops within the Institute of Cartopology at Berghut Halverwege, in the middle of the Vaalserberg. Here, map enthusiasts, tourists and researchers meet. In this way, Marlies and her partner’s mountain hut shows that cartopology does not only belong within the academic world but precisely in the world around us. “Being a cartopologist is not merely a methodology, but a way of being,” Marlies concludes.
Text: Milou Scholten