Calling to Map: Taking the Water System as a Base for Development

Keng Ching Chen works as an assistant in the County Government of Yilan, Taiwan and is also a designer and passionate researcher. He holds a master’s degree focusing on the Dutch lowlands and their potential futures, particularly the polder landscapes and their engaging character. After graduation at University of Technology (TUD) in the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Netherlands in the Circular Water Stories lab (2023) he returned to Taiwan to work as an independent researcher, drawn to the river delta and its traditional water systems while exploring their renewed meanings today. His interests include participatory research, and with support from the NHBOS Institute (2024, Talent grant), he applies multi-method approaches to study public perceptions of landscape. As a government worker, Chen is enthusiastic about lobbying for funds for landscape projects, promoting farsighted visions, and acting as an intermediary among officials, designers, NGOs, and the public. He believes that, in addition to political means, serving people and the country is best achieved through environmental quality, thoughtful spatial design, robust communication, and cooperation.

Inge Bobbink has been an Associate Professor in the Section of Landscape Architecture since 2007 in the Department of Urbanism at Delft University of Technology (TUD) in the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment in the Netherlands. She holds a post-master’s degree from the Berlage Institute and a PhD from TUD. In cooperation with others, she developed and coordinated, from the start of 2010, the educational program for the master track of Landscape Architecture. She teaches and supervises master and PhD students, lectures internationally, coordinates the graduate studio and other courses, serves on the education management team, and participates in diverse advisory boards. She is the founder of the Circular Water Stories lab. Her research focuses on identifying landscape-architectural and sustainability values in (traditional) water systems worldwide. The goal is to learn from the past and transform that knowledge for today’s design challenges. Good mapping and drawings are crucial in this regard and require close attention. Therefore, developing an illustrative method and researching how to draw time as a design tool are ongoing topics in her research. In collaboration with colleagues, alumni, and students, various books and articles bear witness to this agenda.