Lesson 1
Impact Potential
Community Mapping is not only a method for gathering spatial data or visualising local knowledge, it also builds relationships and awareness. It can generate significant impacts across social, cultural, and institutional domains, particularly when it involves groups whose experiences and visions are often excluded from formal planning systems.
Personal and Collective Empowerment
- Confidence and capacity-building: Community Mapping can generate data on how participants gain confidence in articulating their knowledge, ideas, and visions for change. The PLANET4B Graz case study illustrates how mapping processes made visible the ways in which participants became more engaged with local governance structures and more capable of acting within them.
- Agency and alliances: Mapping processes can reveal shifts in self-perception, from residents identifying as isolated individuals to seeing themselves as collective stewards of place. The production of a shared plan or vision demonstrates how mapping fosters a sense of ownership and provides a platform for claim-making that can be analysed as evidence of emerging agency.
Strengthening Community Networks
- Fostering solidarity and embedding knowledge exchange: Community Mapping makes it possible to trace how new connections are formed across groups that might not usually interact. It foregrounds intergenerational, intercultural, or cross-neighbourhood exchanges, highlighting how local ecological and cultural knowledge becomes visible, valued, and circulated.
Influencing Local Practice
- Creating a legitimate alternative and enabling engagement: Mapping outputs can be studied as counter-proposals to official or imposed development plans. They demonstrate how participants acquire familiarity with the institutional and procedural dimensions of urban governance. Mapping can also reveal overlooked green areas and biodiversity assets, showing how these become part of collective argumentation for protection, restoration, or ecological enhancement.
Enabling Place-Based Transformation
- Physical transformation of space: The Graz case shows how mapping can lead directly to material change, in this case the conversion of an underused green space into an urban food garden. Analytically, this highlights how mapping is not only representational but also generative, with potential to foster stewardship and long-term care when communities are involved in planning and visioning processes.
Shifting Power Relations
- Claiming the right to the city: Community Mapping can be examined as a form of counter-power, enabling marginalised groups to articulate claims in contexts of exclusionary planning, gentrification, or environmental decline. These practices can be interpreted as acts of spatial justice, particularly when led by groups whose perspectives are often absent in dominant governance processes.
Broader Methodological and Political Insights
- Linkages to other mapping approaches: Depending on the aim, participatory mapping can be combined with other spatial tools such as sensory mapping, counter-mapping, asset mapping, or story maps, see Unit 1 Lesson 2 for more information on these methods. These enable different forms of knowledge to be surfaced and different publics to be engaged.
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Lesson 2
Challenges and Adaptations
Participatory mapping can be a powerful tool for community engagement, but it also brings a number of challenges that can require thoughtful adaptation:
- Uneven Participation
Not everyone feels confident contributing to mapping activities, particularly where literacy, language, or digital access barriers exist. Adapt by offering multiple ways to engage, such as storytelling, drawing, or using photos alongside maps. - Power Dynamics
Maps can unintentionally reinforce existing hierarchies. Be aware of who is speaking, who is listening, and whose knowledge is being prioritised. Facilitate in ways that support equitable participation, such as through small groups, rotating roles, or having co-facilitators who reflect the community. - Time Constraints
Participants may have limited time due to work, care responsibilities, or other commitments. Adapt by offering flexible session times, childcare support, or shorter activities that can be built on over time. - Sensitive Topics
Discussions may surface difficult emotions or conflict, especially when mapping contested spaces or exclusion. Prepare by setting clear group agreements, offering emotional support, and providing quiet spaces for reflection. - Sustaining Momentum
Interest can drop off if there is no clear follow-up. Be transparent about what will happen next, and build in ‘small wins’ or visible outcomes in following on from the initial mapping exercise. Where possible, plan for post-project support and capacity building. - Access to Materials and Space
Logistical challenges, such as lack of a suitable venue or materials, can exclude some participants. Adapt by using familiar and accessible spaces and keeping tools low-tech and inclusive.
Ways to Measure Impact:
For more detailed guidance on measuring change, see the Impact module. Three techniques that may work well include:
- Pre- and post-participation reflective interviews or questionnaires to capture changes in participants’ understanding of the mapped space, its biodiversity value, and its social uses.
- Facilitator fieldnotes and observations documenting group dynamics, participation levels, and emerging ideas for action or advocacy.
- Stakeholder interviews with relevant actors such as local authorities, NGOs, or planners to explore how the mapping outcomes have informed or influenced decision-making.
Lesson 3
Reflection and Next Steps
Key Learnings from the Process
As the participatory mapping project comes to a close, it is important to reflect together on what the process has involved. Questions to guide this might include:
- What aspects of the process worked well, and why?
- What challenges arose, and how were they addressed?
- What would participants change in future mapping projects?
- What does success look like, and who gets to define it?
These reflections help build shared learning, support future participatory projects, and strengthen critical awareness of how space, power, and representation are negotiated through mapping.
Encouraging Ongoing Engagement
Community Mapping should not be seen as a one-off activity. Facilitators can support continued engagement by:
- Creating opportunities for participants to keep using mapping as a tool for dialogue, organising, or planning
- Supporting access to printed materials, digital maps, or platforms where participants can continue developing and sharing their ideas
- Following up with participants to explore what has happened since the mapping and what possibilities remain for action, collaboration, or advocacy
