Why I hunt Bling, Blackberries and Blackbirds
Way back when my family had a particular – and looking back, peculiar – Christmas tradition. We would get in the car, drive to a random town, get out and walk around looking at the Christmas displays that people had on their houses. The flashing lights and excitement of what might be around the next corner are as Christmassy to me as the mulled wine and Wham combo is now. Forget tinsel and baubles; for us Christmas was bright indeed, animatronic if possible and ASBO-awardingly obnoxious.
Now I’m all grown up, I can still be found treasure hunting, making maps of my local area. Maps are an especially great communication tool; they can be easily understood by both a local and a person new to the area, and they can be adapted or drawn to show almost anything you can think of. Maps are being used to inform, to influence people’s behaviour and to help them make better choices. You can use a very simple digital technology to get out and about in your local space and find local resources – it’s the map on your phone. Being a Local Guide is a unique phenomenon which has sprung up, consisting of people who – for free – rate and review services and businesses that they visit and gain ‘points’ as a reward (hands up – I’m one of them). Google Map contributors can suggest new places, add photographs of products and food, add business information to help populate the map and make it richer and more valuable to people trying to come to a decision about where to eat or shop in an area. But what about things which just aren’t there for long, or things that you might not realise are there, and – sorry about this dark turn – wouldn’t even miss if they were to vanish?
I make maps featuring local resources which are ephemeral or seasonal. They aren’t all about the natural world, either. I have maps about blackberry bushes in my local area, which fruit in August, and maps plotting the household Christmas displays to impress my child in our own (slightly more high tech) pretties hunt. I plot out outdoor gyms, so that people can add them onto their running routes, and I’m trying to figure out a way to mark the map for species of nesting garden birds (without compromising the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981). I have toyed with maps on local construction sites with current live digger action, to delight my 2 year old son who is digger-obsessed. These are all small important local resources that currently don’t have a ‘category’ on Google maps, but are the link between a community and the natural world or how the space is used and changed by the community over time. By helping people find the perfect shopping experience, Google can link customers to retailers; by helping people feel confident in exploring to look for blackberries or blingy Christmas lights, I can link residents and visitors to the seasons and activities of their community
When I look back at my maps from previous years, I can see some trends. A blackberry bush that was there the year before, in the ticklist, isn’t there anymore. If we don’t notice it’s there in the first place, how will we know when it’s gone?
But it’s not all doom and gloom. Ask any 4-10 year old what their favourite Pokemon is and where they are and they have a surprising amount of knowledge. The success of the map-based Niantic game Pokemon Go points to a wider phenomenon - we can get people motivated to explore their locality. There are street-based movement games springing up, and getting people to move more and navigate their city through encouraging play is starting to take hold. This summer I found my city of Gloucester peppered with little boxes which, when swiped with a free card you could get from the library or council, would make a little noise and give you points. Beat the Street turns towns into giant games. Although these points weren’t worth a thing in real monetary terms to an individual, that strange human instinct to collect things and see how many you can get took over. (Just ask any Local Guide!)
The placement of the boxes were such that they encouraged you to find little cycling and walking rat runs between the two, optimising your routes and expanding the repertoire of routine places you visit. I found small parks and greenspace, new-to-me little alleyways with cute shops, and other players happily tapping their cards and fobs on the boxes to win points for their schools and community groups.
Run by Intelligent Health, the company uses the game to “promote physical activity, active travel, mental health, social cohesion and address inequalities”. Phew!
That’s a lot for one game to handle, but I believe that approaching local issues and getting people to try new streets or find new resources in the spirit of fun is the way to go to open up the conversation. By knowing it is there, you can start to understand it; by understanding and noticing it, you can accept it; by accepting it, you can welcome it. Community cohesion and appreciating our resources, both natural and in the community, requires understanding and acceptance, and maps are a great way to start.
I use maps to get people to care about ‘their’ blackberry bushes, their cut throughs, their beautiful street art or soaring church spire, things that belong to the community, that they are used to seeing year after year, so that they notice when it is gone. And then - they will do something about it.