LoMap is a colorful youth-authored Green Map of Lower Manhattan. This Green Apple Map brings together the expressions of youth from different neighborhoods, backgrounds and age groups (from 7 to 19). Although composed by adults at Green Map System, it features youth and family-oriented natural and cultural sites that have been nominated, described and drawn by 250 young people.
The LoMap methodology was created to involve as many youth as possible in Green Mapmaking, even for a brief time. LoMap's coordinator, Beth Ferguson, gave each group an orientation to sustainability at the community level, and encouraged thoughtful responses. Many of the 20 schools and clubs involved took neighborhood field trips and extended the lesson by making their own Green Maps, writing the Mayor about problems they noticed, or presenting and exchanging their site nominations with others in their group.
This vibrant guide was first published on paper and on-line in April 2001. A manual for replicating the project was completed soon after. LoMap proved to be very popular in the aftermath of 9-11, as people sought out a healing image of Lower Manhattan.
LoMap was completely updated and reprinted in summer 2004. We added many new sites and features, including a Spanish, Chinese and English legend reflecting the diversity of the families living downtown. Although it is currently out of print, you can download the interactive PDF - it has been quite popular with tourists as well as residents.
At the end of 2006, Buckminster Fuller Institute launched the interactive EARTHscope LoMap. This animated version (including videos) is one of the first in a growing, global library of geo-stories about the state of the Earth, our communities and possible futures. We're happy that LoMap has appeared in many publications over the years - we may even make an updated edtion one of these days!
Download the <a href="http://greenapplemap.org/page/getlomap">PFD</a>. There's a version you can print on standard size paper lower down on the same page. The original <a href="http://www.greenmap.org/lomap/">website</a> has more on this project's creation, too.
LoMap has been included in many exhibits and presentations around the world. Copies have been requested by many schools and youth clubs - even by adult literacy and family counselling programs.
Many different kinds of publications have written up the LoMap project, for example, see page 7 of the Sierra Club's <a href="http://newyork.sierraclub.org/Sierra%20Atlantic/SierraAtlantic-Winter04.pdf">magazine</a>, or the post 9-11 <a href="http://www.rebuilddowntownourtown.org/site_information.html">R.DOT</a> planning site, or page 3 of the educational <a href="http://gowildnyc.org/newsletter/gowildinnycfinal.pdf">Go Wild NYC</a>.It's including in many international books and magazines, especially those produced by and about Green Map projects.
Classes used their copies of LoMaps to extend classroom topics into their own communities; to learn how to use the internet; to plan service learning projects; and for eco-literacy, civics, social studies and geography classes. One of the schools on the map expanded its recycling program, and many other sites enjoyed new visitors as a result. While this project is just one of many resources that brought sustainability into the classroom, we're pleased that it has aided the increasing importance of the topic among educators and the Department of Education.
The Multi-Map Manual was developed to share the LoMap nomination process with other communities. It is available to all registered Green Mapmakers in digital format.
LoMap used the colors of the Milwaukee Green Map, and the folding format of Copenhagen's! We hope its friendly format and colorful spectrum of Icons inspired other Mapmakers.
We'd love to have the resources to update and print this map again!
While we don't have a current press release, we have wonderful images and a youth-made video available.
Special thanks to Greenacre Foundation & NYC Environmental Fund for supporting this effort from 2000-2001, and again in 2004.
LoMap's launch party included a mini fair with the participating schools and clubs displaying their other eco-projects. At the end, we all planted sunflowers in our drink cups, rather than tossing them out.
"A Green Map is especially useful to seniors who want to visit the city without the traffic and turmoil - and who care about leaving a healthier planet for our grandchildren". --Rhoda Amon, New York Newsday
