Where are the places that matter to you around the Vindelälven-Juhttátahkka?

The Vindelälven-Juhttátahkka participatory mapping survey is open

One of the questions ArcticKnows keeps coming back to is deceptively simple: who gets to say what a place is for?

In the Vindelälven-Juhttátahkka Biosphere Reserve, decisions about land use, tourism, nature protection and economic development are made at many different levels — local, regional, national. The people who actually live and work in the biosphere area, who know its rhythms and its tensions firsthand, are not always the ones with the loudest voice in those processes.

The PPGIS survey we have launched in the Swedish pilot is one small attempt to change that. PPGIS (Participatory Public Geographic Information Systems) is a method that invites people to mark places directly on a map and explain why they matter: where they work, where they go, what they value, what they think should be used differently, and how they believe decisions about those places should be made.

The survey takes 5 to 10 minutes and is completely anonymous.

Results will be shared in a public report and will feed directly into the ArcticKnows research.

We are inviting current and former residents, second-home owners, visitors, or anyone who cares about the future of the Vindelälven-Juhttátahkka Biosphere to take part.

Every response adds a layer of knowledge that would otherwise remain invisible.

Take the survey: app.maptionnaire.com/q/4y9nn98cds9t

Questions? Contact Linda Lundmark, Umeå University — linda.lundmark@umu.se