Let’s Map It Out: The Potential of Mapping in Raising Sustainability Awareness of UW Students
The Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations highlight the important role that universities play in educating and guiding the next generation in sustainable practices. While universities have made significant progress in integrating sustainability into their curricula and campus operations, many students remain unaware of sustainability features and initiatives on campus. This gap is problematic, as it reduces student engagement with sustainability efforts on campus. To address this issue, I interned at the UW Sustainability to redesign its campus sustainability map. My research aimed to identify the best methods for redesigning UW’s campus sustainability map to better communicate UW’s sustainability features and initiatives to students. To complete this research, I performed map audits of sustainability maps at other institutions, surveyed UW students, and conducted a literature review. The results revealed that UW students were unaware of several sustainability features on campus and had never previously used the sustainability map. Literature and map audits revealed that maps are effective tools in raising awareness and engaging communities in sustainability. These results indicate that the sustainability map should be redesigned to optimize its user engagement, highlight features that students may not know about, and be effectively promoted once completed. Through an effective sustainability map, students will have higher awareness of available sustainability features, increasing their likelihood to engage with them. By making sustainability information readily accessible, UW can cultivate a more informed campus community that considers both individual and institutional contributions to sustainability.
