Asset mapping and civic creativity
- Submitting institution
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Royal College of Art(The)
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- Ramster1
- Type
- C - Chapter in book
- DOI
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- Book title
- Asset mapping and civic creativity: How social media and DIY culture contribute to democracy, communities and the creative economy
- Publisher
- Policy Press
- ISBN
- 9781447324959
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- -
- Year of publication
- 2016
- URL
-
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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7
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This book chapter, co-authored by Ramster, describes the new interdisciplinary asset-mapping methodology from Media, Community and the Creative Citizen (“Creative Citizens”) (AHRC 2012-2014).
Asset-based Community Development (ABCD) is a well-established approach where communities harness existing assets to drive improvements. It recognises tangible (e.g. spaces, groups) and intangible (e.g skills, time) assets. Previous asset-mapping techniques for ABCD were limited to asset directories, or geographic mapping constrained to tangible location-based assets.
Ramster was a key creator of this participatory non-digital methodology with four other researchers (design, architecture, digital cultures) from Creative Citizens’ ‘Community-led Design’ research strand, informed by interviews with community experts and practitioners. It captures all asset types. It also extends asset-mapping to include assets’ current and potential value to a community-led project (CLP); and to include network mapping, capturing social capital through the relationships between participants via shared assets.
It was adopted as a common methodology across Creative Citizens’ multi-disciplinary research strands: Community-led Design; Hyperlocal Journalism; Creative Networks. Ramster ran three of the nine community workshops.
The research found that intangible and tangible assets, their current and potential value, and networks can be mapped within one activity. It revealed insights into power imbalances within CLPs and differing views within CLPs of an asset’s significance. In response to its effectiveness, the CLPs used it as an integral step to democratise and prioritise activities within Creative Citizens and beyond.
Ramster ran demonstration workshops at NORDES (Nordic Design Research), Malmo, Sweden 2013 and Creative Citizens Conference, London 2014; and presented it at The Impact of Local Civic Technology, London 2019. The methodology supported futureUK and overseas research: The Qualified Self (RCA, Panasonic); Unearthing Hidden Assets (Brunel University, AHRC); Co-designing Asset Mapping (OU, AHRC). It was shared as a free online toolkit, Seeing Things Differently, with national charity The Glass-House Community-Led Design.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
