Cultural Mapping

Sandbox and the Lancashire Arts Development Service originally joined together in the development of a planning tool that enabled urban planners and citizens to work in close collaboration on the development and regeneration of Preston’s urban environment. One approach to this was making use of mobile phone technology to capture “user” feedback and lifestyle information in the context of a cultural probe.  It was quickly realised that The Cultural Mapping toolkit would benefit a variety of clients and users by providing not only a quick response from citizens to social, commercial and economic changes and migration in the city, but also by integrating their own innovative ideas within the development process.The Cultural Mapping technology was developed to improve the quality and breadth of responses to Local Authority statutory planning consultation exercises. The project was prompted by the growth in the pace of physical development along with the increasing legislative pressure on Planning Authorities for community consultation on planning decisions. Cultural Mapping was developed to tackle a range of issues resulting from these circumstances:So the original Aims of the project can be summarized as:- a]  Increase participants’ skills, capacity, confidence and inclusion. b]  Engage planners, design professionals & private sector in understanding the relevance of community and cultural engagement in the planning process. c]  Create a planning tool that enables urban planners and communities to collaborate in the planning process using simple creative media tools and designed workshop formats.