With the UN’s major climate conference coming to town, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, the Climate Fringe, and Glasgow Eco Trust partnered to crowdsource local knowledge and engage residents in mapping the greenest places in town.

The challenge

Glasgow is an exciting place in all seasons. Still, with COP26 coming to town, local organisations wanted to find a way of highlighting places in the city for delegates and visitors to meet local people and exchange ideas. 

They wanted their map to be authentically Glasgow, and to share helpful information about the hidden pockets of community activity green resources - including reuse shops and community gardens - that are known by locals but not always evident to visitors.

What we did

With a plan to involve as many people as possible, the Glasgow team created a series of campaigns on the Platform to crowdsource data for their map. A volunteer team coordinated by the Stop Climate Chaos Scotland collected nearly 300 sites for the map. A webpage was set up by the Climate Fringe, featuring an embedded Green Map with links to eight topics, including bike shops, sustainable supermarkets, local bars and hidden gems. This webpage brought all the Green Map-making activity together in one place.

Glasgow’s team cleverly created special icons to denote venues and temporary gathering spots that were set up for COP26 visitors. 

Outcomes

• This COP26 Green Map project was well promoted, both in the lead up to and during the two-week long event. Animated GIFs shared the map with people as they arrived from all over the world. The daily Climate Fringe newsblast reached 6000 subscribers and featured a Green Map Pick of the Day. 
• Kat Jones of the Climate Fringe and Wendy Brawer of Green Map System are featured on the BBC in an interview for Arabic audiences. Excitingly, the GISCollective developed an App for iPhones, just in time for COP26. This resource brought sites nearby into immediate view. 
• According to the Climate Fringe’s wrap up, 6,500 people used the Green Map during COP26. The Glasgow Green Map did not fade away after the United Nations’ presence ignited tremendous involvement across the city. Still available on the Glasgow Eco Trust website, it’s valuable to both locals and visitors. In 2023, discussions about an updated edition are getting underway.

What we learned

“Although the project was underfunded, the Platform made it easy to achieve the goal of a crowdsourced sustainability map”, said Neil Lovelock, “It was great working in partnership with the SCCS and Climate Fringe teams, and we are hopeful of securing further resources to maintain the Glasgow Green Map as a real community-led legacy of COP26." 

The experience also provided the Platform team with useful insights about how to train people to use the map-making tools. The development of an Android app would allow even further reach in the community.