Final Project Symposium
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In each of the study areas the Project Partners and other organisations were strongly committed to creating new spaces and walking routes and/or upgrading existing ones to benefit local people as well as visitors. Initiatives in which the GIS-P techniques were piloted included: accommodating markets, concerts and other events in historic public squares (York Spaces Case Study); converting a former chocolate factory site including new paths for walking and cycling (Terry’s Chocolate Factory Case Study); upgrading a pedestrian link between a hospital and local railway station (Homerton Hospital Case Study); creating a family trail around a historic house (Sutton House Case Study); establishing a riverside health walk including interpretation of local histories (Lower Kersal Case Study).
Case Study Area 1: London
Both case studies in Hackney (Homerton Hospital and Sutton House) offered a different and diverse approach to using GIS for participation.
The first case study was with the National Trust at Sutton House and involved facilitating focus groups with children and their parents to gain information on their preferences when visiting various rooms in the house. Using GIS with children was an interesting experience; ages ranged from five to twelve and their understanding of mapping on such a micro-level as a house was excellent. However, negative questions regarding improvements to the room were a bit too advanced for those six and under.
The second case study (Homerton Hospital link) included local residents and representatives with specialised knowledge of the area. A satisfaction study was undertaken on improvements to the public realm between Homerton railway station and Homerton hospital. Participants were asked to walk along the route, annotating on individual maps comments concerning personal security, accessibility, road traffic, street planting and signage to the hospital. At the hospital a collective map was used for the focus group, with disagreement on the exact whereabouts of certain issues clarified with the individual maps. To this end, it was felt that the initial mapping session had been extremely useful, as all participants had gained the same knowledge of the area.
The findings for both case studies proved to be extremely beneficial for both Hackney Council and the National Trust.
Case Study Area 2: York
Following initial meetings in York, two separate case studies were finalised. The first was based around the use of space in the city centre (York Spaces) and the other on the redevelopment of the former Terry’s Chocolate Factory site.
The York Spaces study focused on local stakeholders’ uses of, and views on a number of open spaces (public squares) within the city centre. The team used two different approaches to GIS-P, one informal and one formal. For the informal approach the researchers set up a stall in the middle of York’s Parliament Street in order to capture the views of passers by. The formal approach was run as a traditional focus group meeting with 11 invited members of York’s Citizen Panel.
The Terry’s study focused on access routes for both pedestrians and cyclists across and around the former Terry’s Chocolate Factory site. A traditional focus group meeting was held in late July 2006 with people who had expressed and interest at an open day held by the site developers. Other significant local actors were also invited as were members of the York Cycle Campaign group to help with the discussion of cycle routes in and around the site. The results of this study were presented back to local people, the developers and the council and exhibited at a second open day in early August.
Case Study Area 3: Salford
Despite initial logistical difficulties of timing and scale in finding a suitable location for a case study in Salford, a project to develop a health walk in Lower Kersal was selected. The time-scale for the health walk was relatively short, with completion planned for the autumn of 2006. A budget of £20,000 had been allocated for the creation of the walk. Salford City Council were working with the Groundwork Trust, with funding from the New Deal for Communities, to undertake consultation on improving footpaths and routes around a nearby Sports Village and along the River Irwell.
Meetings with the key stakeholders were held and membership of a Steering Group was agreed with Groundwork. Following the first meeting with the Steering Group, consultations with members of the local community, in collaboration with Groundwork’s community link officer, took place in five public locations in order to reach as wide a sample of residents, including as many hard-to-reach groups, as possible. A map of the proposed route, mounted on polystyrene boards, was set out on which residents could stick a flag with their comments about specific locations. Around 120 residents participated and over 200 comments relating to the planned health walk route were obtained. It is felt that siting the consultation events on public streets and in the public realm achieved the goal of involving hard-to-reach residents. Comments were then analysed and maps were prepared identifying the location of particular aspects and issues relating to both historical and current events.
A second meeting with the Steering Group presented the findings from the consultations and the priorities for improving the walk were discussed. These suggested priorities were then presented to residents at different locations in Lower Kersal. A final meeting was then held with the Steering Group to discuss the feedback from residents and to take forward the detailed proposals.
