Subjective Street Mapping
create a map of the neighborhood together
10 october
13:30 – 15:30
By Emma Verhoeven
How do we map Cool Zuid? Wander through Cool Zuid and lay out your observations. In this workshop, we combine methods from dérive theory and subjective cartography to experience the neighbourhood from all kinds of perspectives and capture it in unique maps.
We’re done with the classic top-down satellite image—let’s get started with a short inspiration session in which we invite you to get acquainted with alternative techniques for making maps. Then we’ll set off with sketchbooks and get to drawing!
As we draw, we collect impressions, details and associations from our surroundings, and you’re invited to give shape to your own way of seeing things. We share and test each other's methods, and work towards a colourful collection of subjective street maps, which together will form a collective neighbourhood map. This creates a multicoloured image of Cool Zuid, in which personal observations, intuitions and patterns come together.
The results of this workshop will be featured in the Alternative Neighbourhood Newspaper (Alternatieve Wijkkrant), which will be available in the neighbourhood and online from Saturday 11 October.
Ready to show the neighbourhood through your eyes?
Are you a resident of the Witte de Withkwartier? Sign up for this workshop for free at hello@engagerotterdam.nl
How can we find new ways of working together towards a better future? During engage 2025, we will explore this question through a series of workshops. As the Creative Research Crew, we will look for alternative perspectives on Cool Zuid from various creative angles. We will test ways in which local residents, creators and doers can work together more effectively.
Each workshop in this series generates material that we will use in subsequent sessions: from stories and newspapers to neighbourhood maps and posters. In this way, we’ll be building a collective research project step by step, with room for experimentation, imagination and discussion.
Whether you are a neighbourhood resident or not, whether you join for one session or take part in the entire series—everyone's perspective and contributions are welcome. Together, we will create a multifaceted picture of the neighbourhood and of the ways in which we can continue to work together in the future.
About
Emma Verhoeven is a designer and educator based in Rotterdam. Her work focuses on creating collective space and time for playful (self)reflection and experimental learning. Informed by her own creative practice, she designs and facilitates workshops at the intersection of art, research and personal development.