How This Workshop Works
Welcome to the Placemaking Maptivity
Think of this workshop as a large, collaborative strategy game—except instead of conquering territory, you’re mapping out how to make your neighbourhood and city genuinely better to live in. You have 90 minutes, a shared map, and the people in the room. Here’s how it comes together.
No prior expertise is required. If you live, work, study, or spend time in this city, you already know what works here and what doesn’t—and that everyday knowledge is exactly what the session needs.
How the board works
Everything happens on a shared map—a printed board if you’re in person, a Miro board if you’re online. It’s a grid with two axes:
- The yellow axis lists sustainability purposes—the big outcomes a city works toward, such as resilience, social cohesion, well-being, and using resources wisely.
- The purple axis lists action areas—the practical parts of city life, such as mobility, housing, education, energy, and green space.
You’ll place cards on this grid. Where a card lands shows how a project contributes to the city’s goals. Most projects touch several goals at once, so a single project often appears in more than one place—and spotting that is half the fun.
Warm-Up (15 minutes)
We start with a quick icebreaker so you’re not sitting there wondering who everyone is—just short introductions and a chance to get comfortable with the tools. Online, we’ll move a few things around on Miro so everyone’s confident with the basics. In person, we’ll gather around the map on the table. We’ll also explain what we’re doing and why it matters.
Building the Board (10 minutes)
This is where it gets hands-on. You’ll help build the actual board by placing term cards—the labels that define the grid. Think of it as setting up the game before you play it: the big sustainability goals along one axis, the city’s services and areas along the other.
It’s a quick round, so don’t overthink it—we’ll figure it out together as we go.
Mapping Current Reality (20 minutes)
Now the real work begins. You’ll get project cards representing actual initiatives in your area—bike lanes, community gardens, youth programmes, recycling schemes, and so on. Your task is to place each one where it belongs on the map.
Here’s the interesting part: most projects serve several goals at once. A community garden isn’t only about the environment—it also brings neighbours together and can even support education. So if a card fits in more than one spot, say so. This is where you start to see how everything connects (or doesn’t).
As you place cards, explain your thinking out loud. There’s no single right answer—if you can make the case for it, it’s valid. You’ll notice some parts of the map filling up while others stay empty. That’s not a flaw; it’s the point. We’re discovering where the city is doing well and where it isn’t.
Fill the Gaps (20 minutes)
You’ve seen what already exists. Now it’s your turn to think like a city planner. Look at the empty spaces on the map—what’s missing? What would make your neighbourhood better?
Grab sticky notes and start brainstorming:
- That dark underpass that needs lighting? Write it down.
- A youth centre with things teenagers would actually use? Add it.
- Bus routes that don’t take an hour to cross town? Yes.
- Pop-up markets for local businesses? Absolutely.
Don’t filter yourself. If you think it would help, write it down and put it on the map. We want the ambitious ideas as much as the practical ones.
Reality Check (10 minutes)
Time to get strategic. We’ll take the best ideas and run them through a simple matrix:
- Impact — will this genuinely make a difference, or is it just nice to have?
- Feasibility — can it realistically be done with current resources and constraints?
The sweet spot is high impact and high feasibility—those are the quick wins worth starting on. But even the “impossible” ideas are worth discussing: today’s long shot can become tomorrow’s funded project once you work out what would make it feasible.
Close-Out (15 minutes)
This is where it all comes together:
- What patterns did we spot?
- Which gaps surprised us most?
- Which idea is the group most excited about?
- What can we actually do next week?
You’ll share your biggest takeaway from the session, and we’ll agree on concrete next steps—because this isn’t just an exercise, it’s about making real change happen.
What you’ll get out of it
- It moves quickly — there’s no time to get bored.
- It’s visual — you can literally see how your city works, or doesn’t.
- Your ideas matter — this isn’t an expert telling you what’s best for your neighbourhood.
- It’s grounded — you’re working with real projects and real problems.
- You leave with a plan — not just awareness, but actual next steps.
A note before you start: you don’t need to be a sustainability expert or an urban-planning specialist. Your daily experience of moving through these spaces is exactly the perspective the workshop is built around.
Ready to redesign your part of the city in 90 minutes? Let’s begin.