This Must Be Our Place Workbook 1 - The Place You're In

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THIS MUS T BE OUR PLACE

The Place You’re In There is a glossary at the end of the introductory booklet filled with some words that might be new to you.

Group MapPing (FrOM MAPS OR MeMOrY!)

Let’s begin by thinking about the place that you are in. If you live, work, learn or play in a place then you have a lived experience of that place - you are the expert in that place!

For this activity we will create our own group map of the place we’re in. This map will be unique to us and detail our own experiences as people who are a part of the fabric of this place. No other group could create the same map of this place!

This activity can either be done using a projector and wifi if you have access to them, or by using a large area of the floor/ground to map out the place from memory.

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MAp 1 - Online Mapping Open Street Map* is a free, open, and global community project, like Google Maps but created and owned by the community who make it (like you and me)! We can use Open Street Map as a tool to look at our place or location on a global and local scale. If you have access to a projector, cover a large area of wall with paper or card and project the area of investigation from Open Street Map onto the wall.

Work together as a group to draw out your community, place of investigation or neighborhood. Add in places that are important to you in the map.

Think about what the space looks like from above. Mark out street names, parks, empty spaces, trees, places of interest, places that hold a memory for you or make you feel a certain way.

Remember this map is being made to document your unique experience of this place.

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*www.openstreetmap.org

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MAp 2 - MeMory MaP Y!

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Let’s begin by thinking about the place that you are in. If you live, work, learn or play in a place then you have a lived experience of that place - you are the expert in that place!

Use paper or old cardboard boxes and tape to cover a large area of the floor indoors to create a surface to make your map on. This could also be done simply with chalks on the ground if you are working outside.

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Work together as a group to draw out your community, place of investigation or neighborhood WITHOUT looking at a map. Mark out street names you remember, parks, empty spaces, trees, places of interest, places that hold a memory for you or make you feel a certain way. Remember it’s all from your memory and experience of this place.

Working online together?

This activity can also be done online using

Google Maps OR OpenStreetMap to explore your area as a group and then making a

screenshot of the area(s) of investigation.

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You can use a collaborative drawing

programme like Miro, Google Jamboard or WBO (https://wbo.ophir.dev/ - a free open source drawing tool)

Re-ImaGiniNg our EverYdAy spAceS / Your Place As A PlaygrouNd Take a ‘walk’ through the neighborhood you have drawn. Make a collective list of the things you find interesting about this space. Are there new things you hadn’t noticed before? Is there something unique or special to you about the place you can share with the group?

Write these things down or draw them on the map.

on s t p m o see Pr t page x the ne

Working online together?

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This activity can also be done online by walking through the space virtually. You can use the chat box or a shared drawing board like Miro.com to share the prompts and people can add their ideas using the ‘sticky note’ button or by drawing directly onto the shared board.

What do you like about this place?

What is missing

from this place?

How do you feel when you spend time in this place?

Who is included and who is excluded from this

space (are there resting places, accessible

pavements or toilets, How do you want to live together in this place?

public transport access etc?)

What would you like to

change about this place?

How can you re-imagine this space in a playful

way? Swings at a bus stop?

Skateboarding rails?

A planter of pick your own

veggies on the corner? Free wifi? Streets that are car

free? A sheltered place to hang out?

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Let your imagination run wild. Add your

ideas to your map.