Two years in the making, this award-winning analysis maps out the region's community resources available to improve the region's economic viability and environmental record.
"It is through these social assets people connecting over important issues and values that things are accomplished, organizations are formed, buildings are built, biodiversity is conserved, the environment is protected, and the community is strengthened," said Alaka Wali, director of The Field Museum's Center for Cultural Understanding and Change, which conducted the asset mapping research. "Our study shows how a wide variety of places, organizations and people are connected, and how they are powerful."
From 2001 to 2003, a team of graduate and undergraduate researchers, assistants, and museum staff conducted ethnographic research in Hammond, Ind., and the Chicago communities of South Deering, Pullman, East Side and Riverdale. These areas are known for their industrial might, which has declined over the past several decades. Today they are full of rich, culturally diverse communities and precious natural areas, including some of Illinois' best-preserved wetlands and savannahs.
The researchers used interviews, participant observation, focus groups, photography, and video to identify and analyze what forces and factors are the most important in the lives of local residents, and how these assets can support strategies for environmental and economic revitalization in the region. They then used Geographic Information Systems technology to compile this information on overlapping maps of greenspaces, church
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Contact: Greg Borzo
gborzo@fieldmuseum.org
312-665-7106
Field Museum
11-Mar-2004