Discover a one stop shop for Dundee’s community gardens and growing places across the city
The challenge
Dundee has a rich history of food-growing and gardening projects, including allotments and botanical gardens. Today, many small groups, charities, and community-based initiatives manage food-growing and gardening projects across the city, but information about these groups can be difficult to find.
The groups doing this vital work in Dundee have different levels of capacity and digital literacy; some have websites, some have Facebook pages, and some neither, so collectively, it is not easy for residents, newcomers and visitors to Dundee to find out about the many opportunities there are to get involved in gardening and growing or to simply visit sites.
The Dundee-based charity Maxwell Centre wants to support food growing and community garden projects. These groups provide a wide range of community benefits, including training linked to gardening and growing, cooking classes, volunteer opportunities, access to locally produced food, and the advancement of biodiversity. But how can they present this information in one place and help people connect?
What we did
The Green Map Platform team worked with the Maxwell Centre to develop a brief for the project. The brief identified the needs of the many food-growing and gardening groups across the city and highlighted user and community requirements.
The Green Map Platform team then created a series of forms to collect information about each food growing and garden project, including contact information, information about their facilities and services and images. This data formed the basis of the Dundee Food and Garden Green Map, which was embedded in the new website so users can find everything in one place.
A selection of Green Map icons was allocated to the different data types. These help sort information into searchable categories.
The Maxwell Centre then worked with the groups to collect map data at a local level, which included contact information and images. Data was also collected about volunteering opportunities and events. These two features showcase the versatility of the platform. Grow Dundee is the first to highlight these programme elements.
Working with volunteers and staff at the Maxwell Centre, a new logo and visual identity was developed for the project.
The Maxwell Centre team was trained on how to populate the website with information. The team then delivered training to the groups to ensure that they could update information, adding to their skill sets and abilities.
The site was then tested, and feedback was used to refine its design and functionality.
The website was launched in May 2024 at https://growdundee.blog. The Maxwell Centre will continue to receive support from the Green Map Platform team to help maintain the website and ensure users have a great experience.
Outcomes
- A Green Map and website of gardening and growing sites across Dundee that helps local people and visitors access current, directly sourced information about volunteering, events and the services provided by these vital community resources.
- A collaborative approach to developing and managing community-owned digital resources for food growing and gardening projects with knock-on benefits.
- Digital training for voluntary sector groups, increasing their capacity to manage, track and market their services effective
What we learned
Each of the gardens on the Grow Dundee website has regular events and volunteer opportunities, and we had no consistent way to promote these opportunities. By creating this website where you can see these opportunities in one place, we are supporting the sector to grow and thrive.
