What role can mapping play, especially in times of crisis? Who does it serve, and how can researchers, organizers and designers leverage mapping to advocate for equity and justice? As policy makers, planners, and advocates increasingly rely on spatial data and geospatial techniques to advance decision making, key questions surrounding equitable representation, ethical use, and access to needed resources remain a crucial challenge.


This workshop brings together members of the Urban Systems Lab, a design and practice at the New School, to share insights into past and ongoing work, and to help contextualize issues related to GIS and urban ecology through a presentation of case studies, breakout sessions and collaborative discussion. The aim of this workshop is to introduce and critically interrogate GIS approaches in environmental justice and climate change research and organizing with the goal of helping participants learn about and identify the best tools for mapping environmental and social data, and how this can address a local environmental justice concern.

The workshop is open to everyone of all skill levels, but may be of particular interest to organizers, activists, researchers and designers working on environmental justice concerns in cities. We encourage you to fill out a pre-workshop survey to assess your interests, and to identify a key issue or concern you would like to address through mapping or GIS. Please note, this is not a training course in GIS but rather a workshop to discuss GIS approaches in response to participants' needs/concerns.