Skip to main content
Navigate back to homepage
Open search bar.
Open main navigation menu

Main navigation

  • Study
    UCL Portico statue
    Study at UCL

    Being a student at UCL is about so much more than just acquiring knowledge. Studying here gives you the opportunity to realise your potential as an individual, and the skills and tools to thrive.

    • Undergraduate courses
    • Graduate courses
    • Short courses
    • Study abroad
    • Centre for Languages & International Education
  • Research
    Tree-of-Life-MehmetDavrandi-UCL-EastmanDentalInstitute-042_2017-18-800x500-withborder (1)
    Research at UCL

    Find out more about what makes UCL research world-leading, how to access UCL expertise, and teams in the Office of the Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation and Global Engagement).

    • Engage with us
    • Explore our Research
    • Initiatives and networks
    • Research news
  • Engage
    UCL Print room
    Engage with UCL

    Discover the many ways you can connect with UCL, and how we work with industry, government and not-for-profit organisations to tackle tough challenges.

    • Alumni
    • Business partnerships and collaboration
    • Global engagement
    • News and Media relations
    • Public Policy
    • Schools and priority groups
    • Visit us
  • About
    UCL welcome quad
    About UCL

    Founded in 1826 in the heart of London, UCL is London's leading multidisciplinary university, with more than 16,000 staff and 50,000 students from 150 different countries.

    • Who we are
    • Faculties
    • Governance
    • President and Provost
    • Strategy
  • Active parent page: The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment
    • Study
    • Research
    • Our schools and institutes
    • People
    • Ideas
    • Engage
    • Active parent page: News and Events
    • About

Visualising Community Inequalities Public Engagement Case Study: Medellín, Colombia

CASA researchers are working with young people in Colombia to identify and analyse the ways in which they experience their local urban environments.

22 May 2017

Visualising Community Inequalities Workshop

Breadcrumb trail

  • The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment
  • News and Events

Faculty menu

  • Current page: News
  • Events

During March and April 2017, five workshops were held in Medellín, Colombia to identify the places that young people recognise as most important in their daily lives. The research aims to further analyse these results in relation to network morphologies and space syntax measurements.

The participants looked at maps of the neighbourhoods of Medellín - designed by researchers working on the CASA research project, ‘Visualizing Community Inequalities’ (supported by the Leverhulme Trust) - and used a set of graphic icons to indicate their feelings and perceptions about the various landmarks of the city. 

The icons were used by 175 participants from 17 schools located in two districts of Medellín (Belen and San Javier). In order to expand upon these descriptions, other symbols representing environmental and security threats were also provided. At the end of the workshops, each of the participants was able to identify and describe different landmarks at a global and a local scale, and to interpret the graphic icons according to their own experiences.

Dr Jamie O’Brien and Laura Garcia are looking forward to comparing the social and spatial inequalities among neighbourhood communities in Medellin and Liverpool and to analysing the applicability of the prototype iconographic tool for deliberation in urban domains.

For the time being, the youth organisations and libraries (Sistema Bibliotecas Públicas de Medellín) that collaborated with us in Medellin are planning to use the method to map other social dynamics in the territory (e.g. the presence of social actors in each district). In a city such as Medellin, social cartography methods become important in the recovery of historical memory as well as in improving social and spatial equality.

Laura would like to recognise the valuable contribution of staff from the Parque Biblioteca Prebístero José Luis Arroyave San Javier and the Parque Biblioteca Belén, Biblioteca Pública Comfenalco Centro Occidental, as well as the youth organisation Red de Personeros y Líderes Estudiantiles de Belén who provided support in the design and validation of the maps and graphic icons, and the planning and implementation of the workshops.

In gratitude to the collaboration of these institutions, the researchers offered training to the staff of the libraries and to the teachers of the participating schools. The training included a brief introduction of the applications of cartography as an educational tool, and practical exercises for the visualisation and elaboration of maps using free software (Google Earth, QGIS & CARTODB).

We are hoping to see the community adaptating the methodology as the project develops, using GIS in their mapping activities.

  • Graphic Icons Representing Perceptions of the City
    Click to view image at full size and access the gallery slider.
  • Participants in Colombia
    Click to view image at full size and access the gallery slider.
  • Mapping the City
    Click to view image at full size and access the gallery slider.
  • A Presentation in Colombia
    Click to view image at full size and access the gallery slider.
Graphic Icons Representing Perceptions of the City
Participants in Colombia
Mapping the City
A Presentation in Colombia

UCL footer

Visit

  • Bloomsbury Theatre and Studio
  • Library, Museums and Collections
  • UCL Maps
  • UCL Shop
  • Contact UCL

Students

  • Accommodation
  • Current Students
  • Moodle
  • Students' Union

Staff

  • Inside UCL
  • Staff Intranet
  • Work at UCL
  • Human Resources

UCL social media menu

  • Link to Soundcloud
  • Link to Flickr
  • Link to TikTok
  • Link to Youtube
  • Link to Instagram
  • Link to Facebook
  • Link to Twitter

University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7679 2000

© 2025 UCL

Essential

  • Disclaimer
  • Freedom of Information
  • Accessibility
  • Cookies
  • Privacy
  • Slavery statement
  • Log in