Walking, Mapping and Belonging

Given the increasing urban immigration in many cities, including Manchester, UK, this research adopts a critical heritage discourse perspective to address the question, ‘How can immigrants’ landscape perceptions be captured and incorporated into existing heritage and landscape planning frameworks, particularly the Historic Landscape Characterisation?’ Iranian immigrants have been selected as the case study due to their historical background and recent growth in migration for several reasons. To answer the main research question, this study adopts a mixed and participatory methodology approach. Using interactive and citizen science-based digital platforms like Commonplace, walking interviews, and spatial analysis techniques, this research enables Iranian immigrants in Manchester to identify, map, and reflect on their everyday landscapes that hold cultural, emotional, and symbolic significance for them. This mixed methodology helps capture how immigrants express their intangible heritage and share everyday anecdotes and experiences. As part of this approach, the online questionnaire collects detailed insights into landscape preferences and place-based values that might otherwise remain hidden. Before the online questionnaire and as a complementary phase of the PPGIS mapping, the walking interviews add necessary depth and sensory context to these perceptions. Finally, the PPGIS-based digital map translates these insights into a practical context, highlighting clusters of meaningful places, culturally significant routes, and important social spaces. This research results in a co-produced landscape map that presents a layered and inclusive view of heritage, revealing how immigrants’ perspectives shape the future of urban spaces. Consequently, the findings demonstrate a more dynamic and representative planning framework that honours the voices of diasporic communities and their evolving connections to place.