New York City STEW-MAP

New York City

Who takes care of New York City’s environment? The answer is all of us. Our landscapes are shaped by many different institutions, groups and individuals. STEW-MAP is a data-driven community and partnership organizing tool designed to demonstrate that people can be positive agents of change in their communities. Our intent is to visualize the often ‘unseen network’ of stewardship actions throughout any given neighborhood, city, region or beyond.

STEW-MAP supports government and civic groups alike to effectively coordinate and collaborate, to identify opportunities to better engage New Yorkers in caring for the environment, and to enhance the capacity of the stewards of our communities. This tool can support civic participation, increase neighborhoods’ social cohesion, and support requests for funding and programming.

The first ever STEW-MAP survey was completed in NYC in 2007. Since the publication of the data, STEW-MAP has been used in NYC to support civic participation, increase neighborhoods’ social cohesion, and support requests for funding and programming. In 2015, STEW-MAP was replicated for waterfront-focused stewardship groups in the New York Harbor area, in collaboration with the Hudson River Foundation/Harbor Estuary Project (HRF/HEP).

In 2017, STEW-MAP was replicated in the New York City Region. This study was expanded to include the entire greater metropolitan area and added “transform” as a function. In this study, 55 partners served as data providers and 847 respondents were included in the research results. The data collected in the 2017 survey can be explored visually and spatially on the online map and dashboard (coming soon!). 

In 2020, a new online dashboard is under development that will summarize STEW-MAP data at a glance and visualize connections between groups in an interactive network diagram.

Projects

2007 NYC STEW-MAP

In 2007, research scientists from the NYC Urban Field Station created a method of assessing and mapping civic stewardship throughout New York City.

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2015 NY/NJ HEP STEW-MAP

STEW-MAP was replicated for waterfront-focused stewardship groups in the New York Harbor area, in collaboration with the Hudson River Foundation /Harbor Estuary Project (HRF/HEP).

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2017 NYC STEW-MAP

STEW-MAP 2017 builds upon past research, providing the first update in 10 years on previously participating groups.

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