Funded under the Swiss Block Grant, Mapping for Change in collaboration with the Centre for Training and Personal Development MERITUM, the Cultural Authority City of Gardens and Highways 4 Elements carried out a two year training programme in the Silesia region of Poland.
The project set out to increase the participation of citizens in shaping local policy created in the Silesian-Cracow Europol.
Our Role
Mapping for Change were commissioned to train forty-two trainers and coaches in sustainable development of the area outlined in the Development Strategy for the South Polish region. Mapping for Change equipped trainers with the ability to not only train others, but also to run engaging workshops across the community.
Impact
Mapping for Change developed a Polish version of their interactive Community Maps platform and trained participants enrolled in the programme in how to utilise a range of participatory mapping methodologies. The information collected during the mapping process formed the basis for developing written recommendations to take concrete actions for change in local communities and that aim to enable people to feed into local plans for sustainable development.
Community Maps allowed citizens to take action about problems which affected them in their local area, including dog fowling.
Related Projects
Design for Wellbeing
Design for Wellbeing is a multidisciplinary research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The project aims to investigate ‘community severance’; the concept that major transport infrastructure, such as busy roads, can negatively influence elderly people’s physical and psychological wellbeing, by segregating their community and restricting their mobility.
Science in the City 2
The City of London Corporation and Mapping for Change are teaming up once again to conduct a citizen science project to monitor air quality in the capital city and evaluate the recent changes made in the area. The project will seek to understand the impacts that public participation and citizen science have on environmental issues.
Putting Ourselves on the Map
Mapping for Change in collaboration with the Humanities Education Centre (HEC) and local specialist on learning and ‘place’ Maggie Hewitt, worked with three schools in Tower Hamlets (Columbia School Community Map, Arnhem Wharf School Community Map and John Scurr School Community Map) to pilot a brand new process in which Year 4 pupils develop personalised maps of their local area with their own likes, memories and views on change.