Learning through community mapping in GEOG 380

Working with a community partner

In this course, we were able to choose which out of five community partners we would like to work with for our end-of-semester group project. I chose to work on a community mapping project with the Gonzales Neighbourhood Association.

The overall goal of this project was to work with the Gonzales Neighbourhood Association to create a community green map of the Gonzales neighbourhood with input from the community. This project set out to understand the community members’ connection to place and to understand which areas of the neighbourhood are important to them. It included input from many diverse groups of people from every age group.

Another more specific goal of this project was to gather community members’ opinions on the development plans the City of Victoria put out for the Gonzales Neighbourhood in Summer 2018. Previous students have gotten input from the community through surveys on three main areas of interest – density, transportation, and sensitive ecosystems.

Building connections

In order to develop a deeper understanding of the Gonzales community’s needs, we went for many walks around the neighbourhood, spoke to community members (from a safe distance!), and studied historical maps of the area.

We were able to gain a deeper understanding of the love and connection that the Gonzales community members have for their neighbourhood, which helped us to represent their frustrations and needs accurately and honestly to city council.

Compiling the data

Our job was to compile all of the data gathered by previous students in order to prepare a presentation for city council.

We presented our findings to city council with two short videos. It was really important for us to show city council what areas of Gonzales were particularly important to the community and to lift up the many voices that are often unheard during urban development plans.

This community-engaged project really opened my eyes up to the amazing practice of community mapping and helped me to understand how it can be used to lift communities up and move towards a more socially just world.

Making an impact

This project with the Gonzales Neighbourhood association is just one of the many wonderful community-engaged projects that students have completed in Geog 380 – the community groups they work with are changing around each semester and there are projects in many different fields of geography.

If you are interested in taking a course that is engaging, fun, thought-provoking, challenging, and helps people at the same time, Community Mapping is for you!