Community Mapping is a cartographic (map-making) practice rooted in the assumption that those who live in particular places have special knowledge of those places that outsiders do not share. Community mapping encourages ordinary people who don’t have easy access to political processes to come together to investigate and record significant aspects of their neighbourhood and their relationship to it. As a practice, community mapping explicitly acknowledges and honours each person’s experience of their home-place through the act of drawing a map and through attending to the personal stories and meaning-making processes associated with it.

Over a number of months in 2007, 18 St. James Town residents participated in the mapping process. Each participant created a hand-drawn map. These were then used to create an aggregate map of community resources, and formed the basis for individual interviews with each participant. These maps and stories are an inventory of the community resources that are available to support their health and well-being, and of needs in the community.

The Aggregate Map combines the knowledge of all 18 participants about St. James Town resources and needs using a satellite image of SJT. The 18 individual hand-drawn maps identify important places to each individual in terms of his or her health. Excerpts from the personal interviews provide a snapshot of the lives of St. James Town residents and give voice to some of the less visible ways that place affects health and well-being.

Downloads

Community Mapping Report (PDF)
Community Mapping Report: Annex (PDF)