In a previous post, we talked about green infrastructure social networks. Social scientists with the USDA Forest Service’s Northern Research Station have developed a tool to assess these networks – it’s called Stew-MAP. The Stewardship Mapping & Assessment project (Stew-MAP) seeks to answer the questions: Who, what, where, why and how are environmental stewardship groups working across the urban landscape? What are the social and spatial interactions among these groups?
These stewardship network assessments, when made at intervals over time, allow you answer the questions: is the network growing over time? Are members developing more relationships (creating new ties)? Who is gaining or losing influence among network members?
The USDA Forest Service’s Research and Development program has an Urban Forest Connections Webinar Series. On January 14, 2015 at 1:00 pm ET, Research Social Scientists Tischa A. Muñoz-Erickson, International Institute of Tropical Forestry and Erika S Svendsen, Northern Research Station will present on Social Networks and Knowledge Systems for Urban Stewardship and Sustainability. You can sign up here to attend the webinar and learn more about Stew-MAP and green social networks, and how to monitor them for growth.