Institute for Architecture

Viva Voce — Architectural Cartography
Mitesh Dixit’s PhD Defense Presentation

PhD Title
Architectural Cartography: Methods for Counter-Mapping the Transscalar Landscapes of Copper Mining in Krivelj, Serbia

Date and Time
Thursday, 07 May 2026, 14:30

Location
Politecnico di Torino
Castello del Valentino, Sala della Caccia
Torino

Mitesh Dixit will present his doctoral dissertation, Architectural Cartography, which examines the village of Krivelj in Eastern Serbia as a site where global demands for copper, critical raw materials policy, foreign investment, spatial planning, and everyday life converge. The research asks how copper is “done” in Krivelj: not only through extraction but also through legal instruments, supply chains, environmental impacts, household displacement, and personal narratives. The dissertation develops Architectural Cartography as a transscalar and transdisciplinary research methodology that combines geomatics, fieldwork, critical cartography, data science, drawing, and image-making. Rather than treating representation as an illustration of research, the project positions architectural drawing and cartographic image-making as central research methods for linking global processes to local consequences.

Examination Committee
Tim Waterman; Iva Čukić; Rosalea Monacell; Mark Linder; Camillo Boano

Advisors
Alessandro Armando; Fabio Giulio Tonolo; Natasa Danilovic Hristic