METHOD

Mapping

Wiki Contributor History

February 7, 2020	Jaskiran Gakhal, Participedia Team
May 6, 2019	Jaskiran Gakhal, Participedia Team
June 29, 2018	Lucy J Parry, Participedia Team
November 1, 2017	Scott Fletcher Bowlsby

Method Data

Face-to-Face, Online, or Both?: Face-to-Face

General Type of Method: Community development, organizing, and mobilization

Typical Purpose: Develop the civic capacities of individuals, communities, and/or civil society organizations

Links: The Several Forms of "Community Mapping" (MSU); Tamarack Institute - A Guide to Community Asset Mapping; Project Management Institute - Mind mapping; Australian Government - Data mapping examples; Penn State - The history and importance of web mapping; uVic Community Mapping

Number of Participants: Small groups; Medium size groups

Types of Interaction Among Participants: Storytelling; Informal Social Activities

Facilitation: No

Decision Methods: Idea Generation

Scope of Implementation: City/Town; Metropolitan Area

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Mapping involves visually representing community characteristics and resources in relation to geographical features and physical space, connecting to community values, histories, assets, and lived experiences.

Problems and Purpose

Mapping involves the visual representation of a personal or community characteristics in relation to geographical features. The exercise allows for the visual representation of the connection between location and personal details such as individual or community values, history, and goals.

Mapping exercises include but are not limited to: Community Relationship Mapping, Personal Meaning Mapping, Community Asset Mapping, Data Mapping, Web Mapping, and Mind Mapping.

Mapping is a tool that allows community members to visually represent various features such as their values, histories, lived experiences, assets, wants/needs, and relationships. Mapping is often used in participatory planning as a way to get residents to think about what aspects of their community they value and how these can be preserved or strengthened. Mapping is commonly used as a storytelling device since location and geography are essential components of personal history and lived experience. According to John Melcher et al. of Michigan State University: community mapping can be a "dramatic way to establish a common knowledge base among a group of diverse persons concerned with improving or changing outcomes for communities and their residents."[1]