Biography

I graduated in architecture from  KU Leuven  cum laude; these studies included an honorary visiting scholarship at  Columbia University NY. After having completed the advanced master in Urbanism and Spatial Planning magna cum laude, a prestigious FWO fellowship supported my Phd research. Following a postdoctoral fellowship (KU Leuven Special Research Fund), two senior research fellowships at highly acclaimed international universities –the  University of Manchester and  ETH Zürich– strengthened my expertise in cartographic theory and expanded my cartographic research skills. These visiting fellowships moreover anchored me into international research networks, such as the Spatial Humanities Network, and engendered important international collaborations, with Chris Perkins, Lorenz Hurni and Ian Gregory among others. Currently, I am a tenure-track assistant professor at the TU Delft Department of Urbanism, Landscape Architecture Section.

Projects

Research projects, grants and fellowships  

• Designing with Urban Microclimats and for Urban Microhabitats. (2019). Project Grant, DIMI Delft Deltas. Acquisition and research      
• A Botanical Garden for the Anthropocene. (2019).  Stipendium Stichting NH BOS. Acquisition and research  
• KaDEr: Design Atlas Heritage Estate Landscapes Gelderland.(2019–2021). Research project TU Delft and Province of Gelderland.  Research, with S. Nijhuis and E. Luiten 
• INNOCASTLE: Innovating Policy Instruments for Historic Castles, Manors and Estates. (2018–2022). Interreg Europe Knowledge and Design Partner, TU Delft Team
• Mobility for Growth. (2018).  VES Funding, KU Leuven.  Acquisition and co-promotion, with P. Vansteenwegen, S. Dewitte, T. Steenbergen and E. Altsitsiadis       
• Mapping Methods for Researching Textual Landscapes. (2017–2019).  Visiting research fellowship, ETH Zürich.  Acquisition and research        
• Implicit Urbanisms, Exploratory Cartographies (II): Constellations of Catholic Institutions. (2015–2016). Postdoctoral fellowship, BOF Special Research Fund, KU Leuven. Acquisition and research       
• Maps and Territories as Things and Processes. (2015).  Visiting research fellowship, The University of Manchester. Acquisition and research 
• Implicit Urbanisms, Exploratory Cartographies (I) (2008–2013). PhD fellowship, FWO Research Foundation Flanders. Acquisition and research  
• Metamorphosis: A Mapped Spatial Biography of the Kortrijk Region. (2008). Project funding, Intercommunal Planning and Development Agency Leiedal.  Acquisition, coordinator and research, with T. Louwette and K. Thomsen.       
• Genesis and Transformation of a Catholic Territory. (2008). Fellowship for individual artists, Flemish Community Acquisition and research          
• Highway–Landscape Interactions: Case of the E17. (2007). Regional landscape development project funding, Intercommunal Planning and Development Agency Leiedal. Research, with B. De Meulder   
• A Cartographic Exploration of Roads and Railways in Southwest Flanders. (2006–2007). Thesis research grant, Intercommunal Planning and Development Agency Leiedal. Acquisition and research 

Expertise

My research programme has a double orientation:  

• (I) innovating mapping methods for landscape research  
• (II) reframing everyday, Western European, urban landscape transformations

These research programmes resonate within academic and professional circles involved in landscape research, cartographic theory and methodology, and urban and regional planning and design. The academic impact of research performed to date far ranges from innovating mapping methodologies, contributing to urban landscape history and morphology, building critical cartographic theory (see also 2c). Past and ongoing research steers spatial development strategies in Southwest Flanders, and informs landscape policies on Brussels-Leuven Regionet and Gelderland’s heritage estates (KaDEr, INNOCastle). The atlases I (co-) authored have furthermore been communicated to broad audiences in expo’s of international allure (International Cartographic Exhibition: Paris, 2011; Dresden, 2013; Rio de Janeiro, 2015; Architecture of Shame, Matera Cultural Capital of Europe, 2019) and of national and regional importance (Botanique Brussels, 2016; Flax Museum Kortrijk, 2014-ongoing; STUK Kunstencentrum Leuven, 2014).

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