A Reflection on Democratizing Research for Community Strategic Planning 

Conference Presentation Review by Alana Hoare on October 12, 2024 

“You are Here’: Cultural Mapping and the Researcher-in-Residence as Vehicles for Community Engagement” by Hannah O’Neil, Julia Cyr, Will Garrett-Petts, Cheryl Gladu, with contributions from Kate Fagervik and Barbara Berger 

On October 12, 2024, I attended the Research Colloquium on “Engaging Communities through Research Collaboration” hosted by the School of Education at Thompson Rivers University. Co-organized by Drs Tanya Manning-Lewis and Frederic Fovet, along with students in the Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies, this year’s event sought to showcase university-community partnerships and work that is having a meaningful impact in our community.  

The “You are Here” Project 

The first presentation was notably not a presentation in the traditional sense of academic conferences, but rather a dialogue among the co-researchers reflecting upon the research process and its impact on community. Seated comfortably at the front of the room, the researchers represented a mix of community members, students, and university professors. Their respect for one another was evident in the easy flow of conversation. The energy and excitement bubbled as they recalled aspects of the project. Praise and friendly jibes were in abundance.  

They spoke to the “You are Here” project, which explored how cultural mapping and community-engaged research informed the development of the City of Kamloops’ new Cultural Strategic Plan. I encourage you to read more about this project because it represents a fundamental shift in how we engage in strategic planning.  

Community Strategic Planning 

I’ve been involved in and sometimes the instigator of strategic planning efforts for a decade in postsecondary education (both at the institutional and program level), yet I’ve grown skeptical (cynical even, perhaps) of the purpose and value of such planning processes. I’ve spent many years counting strategic plans as they collect dust on the shelf.  

What is the relevance of a Strategic Plan in which the future is unpredictable?  

Do I see myself in this Plan that someone else created?  

Is the Plan malleable enough to respond to urgent and uncontrollable changes in the environment?  

How quickly does the Plan become obsolete during a financial crisis?  

Needless to say, I approached this presentation with a healthy dose of skepticism.  

Fundamental Shift to Strategic Planning 

Cultural mapping is rooted in the belief that what a community needs should propel the research forward. The “life of the community” is thus the primary research context. What is necessary then is for social organizations and universities to come together. 

Cultural mapping is an applied research approach that has the potential to make a difference in the lived experience of community members as active participants in the research/learning process. It suggests a notion of “research as growth” – individual growth, and community growth – where people from different backgrounds are invited to share space. As Cheryl Gladu, Assistant Professor and past Researcher-in-Residence, noted:  

 The project allowed for hard conversations to be held in a safe space. Rather than shying away from disagreement, the researcher facilitating the dialogue could say: “Well, can we talk about that a little bit?” 

 Part of the increasing polarization that we see in society is that we talk to people who agree with us. Whereas this process allows us to interact with people who might have different perspectives than we have. While we [the researchers] are learning about them, they’re learning about themselves, too. They hear other people’s perspectives. They face their differences in a polite manner because you are encouraged to explain your ideas, your position, and you’re thinking.  

 The dialogical part of cultural mapping is about how you share understanding; it’s not a debate, it’s how you share understanding. 

 The “You are Here” project and the use of cultural mapping as a research method and philosophy disrupts dominant paradigms that position decision-making within small groups of concentrated power. Rather, it seeks to invite as many folks as possible into the discussion in a sort of “living lab.” 

  Rooted in Place 

Cultural mapping makes visible the concrete and intangible assets of a community. Community members share their “aspirations and stories of the spaces that are personally significant to them. The rhythms of a city and places for intense cultural participation become evident,” explained Will Garrett-Petts, Professor and Special Advisor to the Provost on Integrated Strategic Planning.  

The “You are Here” project was rooted in place. Community members were invited to draw their sense of the cultural future of the city, and were guided by locally relevant prompts, such as:  

What’s it like to walk through sand and dust?  

What’s it like to experience lightning during dry summer months?  

What does Kamloops mean to you? 

Cultural mapping is research embedded in space surrounded and inspired by the local histories of the community. Community members see themselves reflected and represented in the resulting Cultural Strategic Plan and the spaces that are invested in.  

Living Research Lab  

The Kamloops Museum and Archives was an obvious site for the living lab, which emerged as the hub for the research process and members of the community. As Julia Cyr, Museum Supervisor at the Kamloops Museum and Archives, noted, “It created an opportunity for the Museum to grow as both a participatory exhibit of the maps, but also as an active site for community conversations and sense-making.”  

 The Museum took on a social convening role. The Museum curator designed a beautiful space for the living lab. Julia explained that “folks in the community donate artifacts and archival materials so you can see it’s a community museum. We honor that. We want folks to feel welcome and safe to share in their knowledge.” Given its proximity to the Kamloops Farmer’s Market, the Museum got a lot of foot traffic during the summer and, serendipitously, as Cheryl Gladu, Assistant Professor and past Researcher-in-Residence, noted, “We got a lot of kids ’maps.” 

 Commonly, museums are seen as places where one walks in, looks around, observes and reads things, but never touches anything, and hushed whispers (preferably silence) is the preferred etiquette. The “You are Here” project flipped this social norm upside down. During the project the team sought to demystify cultural spaces like a museum, “completely flipping what you thought you would be doing in that space,” said Cyr.  Hannah O’Neil, research assistant and third-year Geography and Environmental Science student, told community members: “You aren’t just here to look around but rather to participate in an ongoing discussion. You can come in, you can touch stuff, you don’t just have to look around.”  

Making Explicit the Implicit  

Surveys are one of the most common tools for strategic planning processes. Yet, a major drawback of surveys is that they tend to feed information to people through leading questions that shape how people respond. Survey data tends to be explicit.  

Alternatively, cultural mapping and participatory exhibits which facilitate interaction in social environments have the capacity to draw out the implicit (memories, aspirations, personal connections). For example, “the landscape” emerged as something significant during the “You are Here” project that might not otherwise have surfaced if community members weren’t prompted to associate landscape with culture.  

Democratizing Research and Strategic Planning  

Instead of “the usual suspects” who tend to be the same decision-makers – the keeners and influential people in the community – the researchers constantly asked: How do you engage more voices? 

While cultural mapping is a highly accessible approach to research with its draw-talk protocol and multiple entry points into the process, a major challenge is how to explain cultural mapping, and how to explain it to different groups, such as children. Researchers need to be adept at guiding participants through the process, particularly people who don’t think they have anything to say or don’t believe that they have strong feelings about culture in Kamloops. O’Neil acknowledged that, as a researcher, “you have to meet the participants where they are at and navigate each person as an individual.”  

Resistance to Inclusive Planning  

The research team acknowledged that there was some resistance to democratizing the City’s cultural strategic planning process. Resistance tended to come from “experts” (folks who have been involved in cultural planning and as professionals in cultural organizations for a long time). Some were critical or dismissive of local members of the community:  

 “Of course, hockey players want another rink.”  

 “Kids don’t know what’s good for them.”  

 “What do they know, I’m the expert, you should just listen to me.” 

Research as a democratizing process can be difficult for those accustomed to holding decision-making power and influence. As Garrett-Petts noted,  

The idea of giving space to someone who might not have 20+ years of experience working in the cultural field is nervous-making and demands a lot of trust. It necessitates that the process create time to build trust within the community. 

Trust is a fundamental principle of community and cultural mapping. Trust in the research process; and trust in one another. Cyr explained: “We were not quite sure where it would lead, but we were looking at the entire community as our partner in the research process, and we were comfortable with it evolving in an organic way.”  

Sustaining Relationships  

Cultural mapping is distinct in that it is not an event. It is an ongoing process rooted in relationships. “Community-engaged research involves a slow building of a relationship that doesn’t end once the data has been collected, said Gladu.  

 To maintain the relationship between the community, social organizations, and university, Gladu advised that a constant connector is needed. An individual or group that can facilitate knowledge mobilization, make connections between community members and researchers for future projects, and keep an historical record of the work – both to validate and honors the community members’ stories, as well as to serve as inspiration for community strategic planning around the world.  

One of the benefits of embedding community-engaged research within strategic planning is it provides a platform for student research training. O’Neil is now a lifelong ambassador of research. She actively shares her knowledge and research skills with young emerging researchers. Engaging in research as a second-year student, was a transformative experience. She spoke of the networking and career opportunities, as well as transferable skills such as collecting, organizing, and sense-making of data.  

Concluding Thoughts… 

I started this review with a healthy dose of skepticism. When wizened to the notion of: 

•  ‘planning as sustaining relationships’ as opposed to ‘an event’; and,  
•  ‘making the implicit explicit’ as opposed to ‘feeding participants the answer’ 

 I started to believe in the transformative power of planning processes as a tool for building strong connections and common understanding among community members. Perhaps there is educational potential woven into process that can help community members withstand financial crises and the uncontrollable through the connections and knowledge they gain during the process. Perhaps, “research for growth” can be viewed as a way to build community resilience. 

Thank you, Tanya and Frederic for creating the space to have these conversations, for highlighting the importance of community-engaged research, and for inspiring the next generation of community-engaged scholars.  

• Alana 

Alana Hoare, EdD
Assistant Teaching Professor, Graduate Programs in Education
Thompson Rivers University