This project investigates how changing socio-economic relations within Bruges and Mechlin had an impact on the socio-professional topography of both cities during the transition period between the Late Middle Ages and the Early modern period. The empirical research in a GIS-environment of the spatial distribution of social and professional groups within the urban landscapes at a micro-level aims at uncovering spatial patterns and temporal evolution in this socio-professional urban topography. In explanation of the revealed patterns and evolutions the project wil focus on the interaction between urban space, wider historical socio-economic transformations and the changing interests of different social and professional groups these entailed.