Community members can create collages to share what they love about their town, what they'd like to change, ideas they'd like to see developed, or to answer some other question or challenge.
Most people have made collages before in elementary school, but they can also be useful in a planning process.
Collages work best when they are open-ended, leaving participants free to put as much or as little time and effort into them as they please, as well as using a variety of materials and designs. Organizers can ask people to respond to any number of questions or themes in making a collage: aspects of the community they like or dislike, examples of architecture or design, images that represent what they value about their place, etc.
Collages can be a great activity to level the playing field between diverse participants (everyone from school kids to grandparents can have fun making a collage). They can also be put on display, scanned and shared online, or used in a variety of settings to spark discussion.
Most often used in conjunction with a focus group or community meeting, collages can be prepared ahead of time and brought to a meeting, which saves time. Participants are usually guided through a discussion of what is represented in the collages, how their values align with others’, and how they differ. If collages are displayed afterwards, they can promote further discussion. Participants may also be asked to create a collage that answers a provocative question, such as, “What do you value most about your community?”
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