UPEI project aims to show how rural P.E.I. has changed through interactive map
Back 50 project asks participants to document land use changes
UPEI researchers are building out an interactive map showing how rural land use in the province has changed historically, and they're asking Islanders to participate.
The Back 50 project looks at how P.E.I. has changed throughout the last 50 years. It's looking to hear from people who have some knowledge of how agricultural land use has shifted on the Island in order to create a map documenting the historical transformations.
"One of the bigger purposes of the project is to help us understand how the 'Great Transformation' occurs, which is what some people have called this transformation from a rural agrarian society to an urban industrialized society," said Joshua MacFadyen, Canada research chair in geospatial humanities and a professor at UPEI. "It's called 'great,' but it's in some ways [had] many side effects that are not so great."
After filling demographic details in a survey, participants are asked to point out places that are of importance to them on a map of the Island and describe how land use has changed by comparing a current satellite map with an aerial one from 1968.
Other maps of the Island are featured, including a photographic one from 1935.
Lessons from older Islanders
MacFadyen said he's especially looking to hear from older P.E.I. residents, as they have a more intimate knowledge of the land.
"There's just a generation of Islanders around who really understand the land and have experienced it in ways that today's generation doesn't," he said.
"And so people who have walked those fields and have kind of harvested those forests and have lived in those homes every day of their lives, they can tell us information and tell us stories, more importantly about that experience that we can't get from different kinds of research."
MacFadyen said they're currently conducting followup interviews with survey participants, as well as walking people through the process during community workshops.
Anyone can access and look through the project at its website, upei.ca/back50.