Browse Content: Activity

Photography or video contests invite members of a community to submit photos on a certain topic, generally community character or special places, to collect different perspectives on how residents see the community's heart and soul.

The HeartSpots project, an interactive storytelling project created for the Heart & Soul project of Biddeford, Maine, allows citizens to record stories and memories through cell phones at many of their favorite locations on Main St.

Modeled after traditional storytelling gatherings, Story Circles allow people to come together to share experiences and stories. This process can help communities explore and identify unifying values, which can inform the planning process.

Locative media is a term coined to describe information, art or stories that are linked geographically to a specific place. It ranges from websites with interactive maps to terminals posted on street corners, to multimedia art installations.

Participants in a Crayon Your Community event draw maps of their neighborhoods or towns, including all natural and built elements that they identify as important to their vision of the community.

Sound mapping encompasses a range of projects and techniques used to capture and contribute to the aural character of a place. In most cases, sounds are recorded from various locations, and are tied to those places with maps or listening stations.

Graffiti Walls (or "Idea Walls") are public spaces for citizens to brainstorm graphically. They provide an informal place to help community members generate ideas or suggestions and respond to the ideas of others.

Growth Chip Games are a fun, effective activity to engage community members in planning decisions. Players use chips to represent development attributes and place them on maps to create different scenarios for growth and change.

Using the Box City curriculum, participants construct buildings and cities out of boxes to learn about planning and land use or explore what they want for their town.

Electronic Town Meetings are community meetings that allow people to participate via digital technology. Whether virtual meetings with remote participants, or in-person meetings aided by technology, these meetings offer new ways of engaging people.