SEBASTIAN VAN BERKEL is member of Team Landscape & Public Space in the School of Dogger Bank. He is a registered urban planner. He has been employed at MUST since 2006, and since 2023 has headed up the Amsterdam team. As a broadly oriented and clear thinker, he builds bridges between the policy-based and design-based aspects of spatial planning. With an open mind and a sense of curiosity, he is a strong binding force with a long track record in administrative processes. Sebastian is able to transition smoothly between levels of scale and is capable of capturing complex processes in clear but above all appealing language and images. In addition to his work for MUST, he is a lecturer for the Master programmes at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam and the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture.
Maps never tell the whole truth; instead, they tell the story of the map maker.
RESEARCH PERSPECTIVE: NEW CONVENTIONS AND HABITS ON HOW TO DRAW THE SEA
The way we draw maps of the North Sea means that we ourselves become part of the human exploitation of the area. In our design-based study, we will be investigating the cartographic representation of the Dogger Bank and the North Sea as a whole. Maps never tell the whole truth; instead, they tell the story of the map maker. The traditional way in which we draw maps is the result of agreements, conventions and habits. The sea is reduced to a patch of blue. The Dogger Bank is shown as nothing more than a set of contour lines demarcated by an abstract geometric shape. With a little imagination, it could be said to look like a rabbit in a cage. The way we draw the sea is based on conventions that have their origins in navigation and exploitation. The purposes of the rewilding of the Dogger Bank are completely different. The community has now reached such a scale that it is time for new agreements, conventions and habits on how to draw the sea. Our design-based research will support that goal.
