Evelien Van den Bruel

Evelien argues the importance of historical tracing of urban networks, with water machines becoming a focal point. In her research, she aims to extend the development of these interests by adding the dimension of time: she explores how spatial configurations of an urban landscape affect—and are affected by—changes in water management through time. The aim of this research is to provide insights on attitudes toward water drainage management in the past, present, and future of the Sub-Saharan metropolis Dakar. Through the development of mapping strategies, the research explores how these attitudes can avail towards an integrative urban water drainage management that confronts current socio-environmental challenges. The context and problem setting from which the research questions emerge are attached to pillars of literature that determine the scientific landscape of this research, followed by a structure that is used to thematize the development of the research through these mapping strategies: reading, describing, and writing. This structure relies on urban literacy and assures the attention to place-specificity and to a thorough understanding of the geography of the changing territory.