Photovoice Project
Over the course of a year (2023-2024), the Mapping for Change research team engaged in a photovoice project in Peterborough.
Photovoice is a visual research method that asks participants to take pictures to “identify, represent and enhance their community” (Wang and Burris 1997, p. 369). It invites research participants to take pictures in the communitybased on a particular theme. In this research project, the theme is good andbad things about the environment that we encounter everyday. Photovoiceparticipants come together to talk about the images, what they represent, andwhat they tell us about the broader community.
In this way, photovoice is focused on identifying community concerns and working to develop strategies to change those conditions.
Nineteen community members signed up to take this journey with us. Every three months, participants would take pictures and we would meet to discuss them and develop themes around them. These themes included community resilience, places of sanctuary, hostile architecture, neglect of green space and more.
In December 2024, we hosted an exhibition of their amazing photographs at ArtSpace. You can see images from that event below, along with some examples of the participant photos
“Whose City is This? The Peterborough Story” - by Eve Lockhart
Eve Lockhart, a student in the Trent School of the Environment, did her placement with Mapping for Change. Inspired by the work of our photovoice participants, she wrote a report entitled “Whose City is This? The Peterborough Story” about the vacant lot which was the old Baskins and Robbins site. You can see her terrific work here.