At the core of our research, we asked citizen scientists to take us on a neighborhood walk and capture aspects of their environment that helped or hindered access to healthy living.
These response pieces
come from friends, artists, and amateur cartographers who charted maps of their own neighborhoods.
Maps, powerful instruments of communication and persuasion, can also unlock your sociological imagination. This atlas of imagination invites a dialogue around identity, environmental health, and neighborhoods as a unit for change.
Charis A. from Washington, D.C.
I live in Columbia Heights, a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in northwest Washington, DC- one of the US's most rapidly gentrifying cities. My map is a meandering timeline of the plants I've encountered on nature walks with my social distanced walking buddy, throughout the past spring months. I've included the locations of the plants rather than their names, as I found it more interesting that over the weeks we'd wandered much farther on foot into adjacent neighborhoods than I had in my past years of living in the District. Taking the photos of these plants and sketching around our surrounding neighborhoods was a welcome respite from coronavirus stresses and has even become a coping tool for me in the middle of the racial inequality outrage our country is finally confronting.
Suppayan K. from Nashua, New Hampshire
This is my favorite room in our home. We have lived there over forty years. It is my “Office and Work Room.” I spend several hours during the day on my computer, reading and sending mail, filing documents, etc. My wife does all her sewing projects in this room as well.
Meredith C. from Metairie, Louisiana
Self-isolation has left even the most introverted among our ranks reaching out in search of new ways to connect within our communities. In my case, this has taken the form of creating and gifting to those I am unable to see and touch. My map is an abstraction of the drive I make from my home in Metairie to my friend's shady porch in uptown New Orleans, a now unofficial contact-less trading post where we exchange things like homemade bread, drawings, sculpture, and, most recently, fresh ginger root.
Elias B. from Greenlawn, New York
I drew the couple of streets that I always make loops of when I take my daily walk - almost always with a podcast playing. Within the streets are observations I’ve made through walking them over and over again. Surrounding the streets are some of my favorite quotes from the podcasts I’ve gone through, as well as some of my favorite “actions” to take while walking: Learn, Ask, Breathe, Wonder, Observe, Listen, Notice, Be, Slow Down.
Jamie Gobreski from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
In March I was suddenly evacuated from my Peace Corps site in an Andean, indigenous and Quechua speaking site of Peru. I was only in my site for three out of the 24 months it ought to have been-- but even in those short months I formed a special bond with the people and places of my community. I found this informal map especially touching to make, since part of my initial community diagnostic process was having my students and others make their own "community resource" map. I chose crayon because I worked mostly with young students and I loved the creative side of that work-- plus, crayons make me happy, just like those kids did! I'm sad to be away from my site, where I was laying down roots for most of the 2 years to come, but I treasure the memories and moments I was able to collect.
Emily K. from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
My experience living in Khon Kaen, Thailand was defined by Khon Kaen University (KKU). Not only was I living a two minute drive from my job at the University, but the spacial structuring of the surrounding neighborhoods were, no doubtably, designed with students in mind. For one, KKU doesn't have on campus study spaces. This pushes students' lives into the neighborhoods. Whether that means studying in one of the many (MANY!) cafes or eating out for most meals. I was lucky to benefit from this abundance of food. While a teacher, my life was similar to my students, a similarity I enjoyed having just started to adjust to life after college.
Jenny F. from Newton, Massachusetts
This map is in flight. Dreaming. It’s a fragment. Stuck, trying to land. It’s a conjunction on a good day and ellipse on a bad one. It’s running half marathons around itself, letting banana bread in the oven veil the idea that people I call home are scattered beyond its scope. This map is imperfect, a sketch. It’s young, asking questions and nourishing tomorrow for answers. It’s working towards movement. It’s moving towards words and colors. It’s bodies in transit.
Apeksha A. from Bangalore, India
I've lived here for chunks of time, and been away while my family was still here. It is both very familiar and full of surprises. I've gotten news, both good and bad. I've made friends and seen them move away. I got my period here, and then moved away myself. Time has impacted my relationship with this neighborhood, and taught me that spaces are brought to life by the people that inhabit them - they determine the plants that grow outside, and the extensions made on the facade of their home. While I know the roads, subtle things about the houses, and the inhabitants themselves change. My familiarity with this place lies in the stories and relationships that were born and brought up here. I am not great with directions, but I drew this from memory, and summoned the words to lay over the streets from memory as well.
Natalie S. from Washington, D.C.
I take daily walks for exercise, and Malcolm X/Meridian Hill Park is a place that I do my best to explore every chance I get. The park has become a stabilizing place in my psyche but due to overcrowding under the pandemic conditions I've had to avoid the area for the last couple of months. I typically use humor to avoid dwelling on more melancholy thoughts, so I have utilized this exercise as an opportunity for remembrance of a place I love so much. I hope you get a laugh out of it like I did!
Paul F. from Fremont, California
My reflections while staying in place include my origins, schools and family. The virus helped me discover my neighborhood and community and to pay attention to the simple joys and causes that will map my journey on a more engaging trail.
David F. from Portland, Oregon
This is a map of all the routes I’ve run in Portland. Combining all of the runs I’ve done on one plane allows me to see and interpret my city in a way I’ve never done before. I removed all the original roads, rivers, and labels, to be left with a spider web of lines that create a skeleton of the city. Running is a major part of my life, it helps me deal with emotional problems, it keeps me healthy and goal oriented, and it has allowed me to go places and experience things I never would’ve otherwise.
Celeste F. from Fremont, CA
My map is a collection of four photos from my favorite places in Fremont. The Fremont Skate Park, my go-to tattoo shop called Dogfather Tattoo Company, flower bushes on the street I live on, and a photo of the hills. The white mountains represent how the hills are always visible when driving around Fremont.
Ishan P. from Syosset, New York
My map represents my occupation of the physical and abstract spaces of my home and mind during this quarantine period. The rooms I have been spending the majority of my time in are my bedroom, kitchen and living room, which are purple, burgundy and orange, respectively. I tracked the time spent in each room over a 15-day period and calculated the percent average spent in each room at a certain hour. To understand my map, the viewer must look at it and imagine a 24-hour clock around the orbit. The three orbits correspond with each room, and the closer they are to the center of the map, the greater the time spent, on average, in that room. While the colors represent where I spent my energy, the words represent how I spent it. They represent activities and ideas that roughly, but not always, take place where they are put. The innermost flower represents this use of energy. The larger the petal, the more time I spend on the words in its direction.
Celeste F. from Fremont, CA
My map is a collection of four photos from my favorite places in Fremont. The Fremont Skate Park, my go-to tattoo shop called Dogfather Tattoo Company, flower bushes on the street I live on, and a photo of the hills. The white mountains represent how the hills are always visible when driving around Fremont.
Gita K. from Nashua, New Hampshire
Every season has a beauty of its own. My morning meditation walk sets the tone for my day. Secret of my joy and contentment. I walk from home, through my neighborhood, to the woods, along the Nashua river and by the waterfalls.
Helen W. from Phoenix, Arizona
I moved to Phoenix ten months ago to change careers and start journalism school. The city is a sprawling place where most people travel by car and most buildings are one-story squares. I moved here without knowing anyone, and looking at it now, my map reflects that history. I drew expansive city blocks between school and home with plenty of room for detail - but found myself only interested in noting the places that hold memories for me. The map feels a little empty for that reason, but I think it also reflects the blank-slate, wide-open feeling I've had since moving here to try something new.
Frannie G. from Somserset, Pennsylvania
The trail I grew up walking with my family (mapped above) is the one I continued to return to during my stint at my parents’ house during quarantine.
Hiking is an act that has always fueled me, made me feel joyful and alive. But never do I go hiking and feel like I don’t belong there because of the color of my skin or fear that my life is in danger. That’s what white privilege is.
Systemic racism continues to preclude BIPOC from venturing out and experiencing land that is theoretically for public use, recreation and enjoyment.
Hannah C. from Fairfax, Virginia
This is a map showing the neighborhood I lived in while teaching at Khon Kaen University. The blocks around my street managed to pack in tons of cute cafes and restaurants, each with its own cast of characters.
Kayla S. from Fremont, CA
Although the world is much larger than this map shows, COVID has dramatically condensed my spaces and confined me to my house. Because of COVID, I have transformed areas in my house to find comfort and keep sane during these uncertain times.
Thaviny S. from Warin Chamrap, Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand
Before quarantine, my life consisted of a routine route that got me to and from my apartment (more specifically, my bed) and my office/ my desk without much room to explore the immediate space I call "home." However, during quarantine, I was able to take many different routes all within my own bedroom: from the bed to the floor for morning yoga to the restroom to the kitchen for breakfast, lunch and dinner and then to work at my work desk at home. It was nice to be able to make use of a space I always lived in, but never got to embrace and fully utilize. I felt like I was living a new life in an old place I am now even more happy to call home (before my recent move back to the states, of course ^_^).
Call for Creatives and Cartographers
We invite you to draw a map of your environment in ways that are important to you.
How is your health and happiness connected to your normal walking route, place of comfort, built environment, or home? What are positive, negative, or complicated features of your neighborhood? How has your relationship with your neighborhood changed over time?
Please email a scanned version of your map to praveenakfernes@gmail.com along with where you live and a short description.