Participatory Mapping Frameworks: Past, Present, & Future

Cara Michell, Assistant Professor, Architecture

Sylke Meyer, Professor, Theatre and Art+Design

Juliana Barton, Director, Center for the Arts

826 Boston’s Young Literary Advisory Board, Community Partners

• ​​Enable [Un]covery: Neighbors can become aware of local services, gathering places and programming.
• Catalyze Neighborhood Connections: Provide a space where neighborhood residents can strengthen community connections and expand their social, creative, or professional networks.
• Reposition Institutions: Begin to build trust in local cultural institutions as a member of their community and an organization that can support its neighbors.
• Increase Transparency: Engage community around the participatory map in a way that feels authentic. Clearly communicate our intentions and next steps.
• Be Inclusive: Ensure that community members who have been displaced or priced out of a geographic area feel included in the neighborhood’s legacy. Provide opportunities for entities who are not included on the map to have their presence felt.

The YLAB participants requested that we follow up with research on their questions about the history of the places they identified: 

○ How long has this building or business existed here? 

○ When was this institution founded? 

○ Why did the stewards of this building or business choose this location? ○ When was this library renovated? 

○ Is this business family owned? 

○ Who maintains the programs on this lot? 

○ How has this institution or program impacted people? 

Over the course of 9 months,  the Participatory Mapping Frameworks team partnered with 826 Boston to host two workshops on participatory mapping with up to 20 high-school aged students. Using Emergent Strategy, we uncovered new methods for understanding and documenting place. Together, we built a framework for a participatory mapping strategy that subverts the power dynamics of base-mapping. Using this framework, the YLAB participants requested that our team create a visual map that illustrates how they see and experience specific places in Boston (as discussed during the Workshop activities).