Placemaking - via zoom and in person.
Placemaking on Campus was an activity led by STREAT's Rebecca Scott and Fiona Meighan. In this activity VU students and staff came together with an aim to create maps that reflected a regenerative, circular precinct around VU Campus in which people felt a sense of community and belonging. A hand-drawn map was used as the canvas for participants to move through a two-part activity that is detailed in this guide, to understand current and ideal future state connection to place.
This type of mapping can be used to reflect people's sense of belonging and safety to given places; highlight special meaning and stories and ultimately become a tool for co-design of regenerative spaces, providing insights and guidance on where interventions and activations might have the most impact.
How it works:
This activity was used mid-way through our project as a way to engage students and staff in place-making given their long absence from Footscray Park Campus. It informed the Regreening project, becoming a rich source of reflections that informed the garden design.
This activity took place on Zoom, but is ideal for in-person workshops. A MIRO board was used to place maps of the campus area; activity instructions and sticky notes and icons had been created for people to use. Two groups were created, each with 2 maps so that there was plenty of space for stories, reflections, a note or memory. One map prompted reflections about today and the other about the future.
After providing instructions on how to use Miro, participants responded to prompts across two parts- these are detailed in the instructions below.
Tools:
Miro was used to facilitate participation in this activity.
You can find a template at the bottom left side of this Miro board - all you’ll need is a map relevant to your project!
What does this area mean to me? Today.
What does this area mean to me? The Future.