“How can mapping strengthen civil society?” asks the online magazine Future Cape Town in the title of a recent article that highlights the work of International Field Program (IFP) student Ashley Buchalter. As part of her experience with the IFP Cape Town “Urban” site, Ashley spent the past summer sifting through years worth of correspondence records between the City of Cape Town and the Social Justice Coalition, a local civil society that advocates for access to sanitation. Ashley subsequently categorized the ways in which the City of Cape Town had responded to sanitation issues reported by the Social Justice Coalition. Her research culminated in an intricate visual display titled “In Response to Your Request…A Map of Circumnavigation.”
Future Cape Town explains that the map could help to better communicate the focus and strategy of Social Justice Coalition. Ashley, a Governance and Rights concentration in her second year of MA studies at SGPIA, told Future Cape Town, “It’s really been a case-study that could have resonance for other civil society organizations. Using the map can give other campaigns insight into the way the [Social Justice Coalition] works.”
Ashley’s project is one in a broader series titled “60 Days, 1 City, 11 Maps” in which IFP “Urban” Cape Town students demonstrated how cartography can be used for social good. Slum Dwellers International and iKhayalami join Social Justice Coalition in the list of organizations that participated in the project.
Visit the International Field Program website for further information on the IFP Cape Town program.
