Your Neighbourhood Mapped!
Who knows Ottawa's neighbourhoods better than the people who live in them?
In partnership with the City for All Women Initiative (CAWI), we hosted three participatory community mapping workshops - in Centretown, Merivale, and Vanier - to give residents the opportunity to share their perspectives on climate change, accessibility, and neighborhood resilience.
Below are the digitized illustrations of what participants love about their community, what needs to be improved, and how they'd like to see it evolve in the future.
Huge thanks to volunteer GIS specialist Prosper Ocheme for his excellent work putting these maps together!
In December 2025, residents of Centretown gathered at the Abiwin Cooperative to share their insights. Using sticky notes on a physical map, community members shared their lived experiences - identifying places of care and comfort, areas to avoid, and how climate change impacts their daily lives.
Residents reflected positively on community and green spaces as places of calm, relaxation and connection, while sharing concerns over safety, extreme weather, and climate anxiety.
In January 2026, in partnership with the Nepean, Rideau and Osgoode Community Resource Centre, 17 participants shared their insights and experiences, responding to three prompts: spaces where they feel cared for, spaces where they don't, and what climate equity means in their neighbourhood.
The most dominant theme appearing in nearly one in four responses was businesses as spaces of care and gathering. Residents named places like Costco, Merivale Mall, and Tim Hortons not just as stores, but as destinations for warmth in winter, cooling in summer, social connection, and exercise. Green spaces and third spaces like libraries and community centres followed closely behind.
VANIER
In April 2026,