I’m doing some volunteer work on a local climate crisis project. The project wants to build a Lifehouse. A place where people can come together and share resources during climate collapse-related loss of civic society and services.
What we talked about this week was Impact Mapping. How to start a project and try and understand who might be involved and what might be done.
This post is just about a draft work canvas. I am trying to integrate both impact mapping and intersectional power theory.
Sketching
There are many rough sketches for this process. There are many angles in time, place, people and deliverables and adding design justice and equity is hard.
I think what helped is to realise that the goal is a building. It’s not a journey, it’s a place. That helps flatten the dimensions.
Prototyping a process
What the process starts with is being clear about what has been emotionally identified as a problem (the question mark) and what is being offered as solution (the exclamation mark). The opening page (1 in the photos above) directly abuts the two elements.
I am aware this appears counter to some ideas of participatory design. However, I think there is sometimes a need to be explicit about action. This is what the Right have proven good at. Taking resentment or fear, naming an Other to blame and providing a direct role and action to take to be part of the solution. The project needs to be honest and direct about what it worried about and how it plans to take action.
This is the offer and it needs to be clear. Too many liberal projects get lost in their open uncertainty.
When the page is opened up the impact map is revealed (2 on the picture). This is the space for sharing who may be involved, what they can do and what might help them (as well the inversion who might hinder the project).
I expect the map to be much larger and much messier. All the people that people know. All the big and small things they can do. All the ideas and artefacts that might help them.
The third part is the intersectionality of all this. How we all have different contextual identities – as individuals, as family members, as neighbours, as workers, as politicians.
What identities and what power we can bring and that we choose to being differs. It is better to be clear about this. Don’t demand too much of a person who just wants to do the one thing they like doing, let people realise the strength of being part of a neighbourhood, show how some people do have greater access to resources due to their institutional position.
Don’t fight the differences. Recognise and use them.
The process starts with the offer made by the project. It needs to recognise the diversity of gifts that people can bring in but not exploit those people.
This is a draft I’ll use to talk to the group members and possibly use in a prototype workshop.
If you have any questions or advice, please contact me.