The Maritime Mindset: A Conceptual and Practical Exploration of Mapping Port Cities

• Published in: European journal of creative practices in cities and landscapes Vol. 4; no. 2; pp. 152 - 163
• Main Authors: Hilde Sennema, Vincent Baptist, Tianchen Dai, Yingying Gan, Yvonne van Mil, Thomas van den Brink, Carola Hein
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Bologna 01-12-2021
• Subjects: culture; identity; mapping; maritime mindset; port cities
• ISSN: 2612-0496
• DOI: 10.6092/issn.2612-0496/14141

Centuries of trade have left their traces in the culture and society of port cities. This paper explores the usefulness of the concept “maritime mindset” to recognize these traces, and analyses it from different disciplinary perspectives. In the second part, it proposes the practice of “deep mapping” as a methodology of identifying and documenting expressions of maritime culture and trade in public space. In conclusion, it addresses some questions that are crucial when addressing a maritime mindset, such as whether it is a top-down or bottom-up mindset, which spatial scale it entails, and whose values and interests the mindset represents. Ultimately, we argue that (deep) mapping can play a role in producing a more layered spatial, social and cultural understanding of the complex nature of port cities.