OUR PROJECTS
Shifting Baselines: Reflections & Lessons
Funded by Forth2O and UKRI and delivered in collaboration with Fife Coast and Countryside Trust, Shifting Baselines brought together community knowledge, history and stories about the Forth’s changing coastline and marine health.
Combining this with citizen science projects and existing environmental data thanks to the expertise of the D’Arcy Thompson Sustainaverse we explored ways of making all this information more accessible, inspiring action and helping to build a a shared understanding of a potential future for our coast.
Gathering Local Environmental Knowledge from Community workshops
At the heart of the project was a lively programme of community workshops and activities, bringing together local knowledge, memories, experiences and perspectives. From guided walks, storytelling and community mapping to interactive events and visits to the National Museum of Scotland marine collections, people were invited to consider the important connections between people, place and a changing coastline.
These shared experiences captured knowledge that might otherwise be overlooked, adding stories, context and lived experience to environmental survey data and helping build a richer picture of the coast — past, present and future.
Artist Interpretations from fisher, bird and story-telling workshops
Visit to the museum of Scotland collection with Fishermen
Interpreted by Helen Duncan
Discussions about Dunbar harbour and changes for local fishing trades
Interpreted by Jay Kirkland
Coastal bird walk and discussions
Interpreted by Helen Duncan
Important Firth of Forth historic stories and myths
Interpreted by Nicky Sanderson
Fife Community Mapping - Anstruther, Aberdour and Limekilns / Rosyth
Heart of Newhaven Community Mapping
Granton Coastal Park ideas from Penn State landscape architect students
Bringing Knowledge and Data Together
We believe that through bringing together lived experience, local insight and scientific evidence, we can create a shared picture that helps communities, organisations and decision-makers exchange knowledge, understand the bigger picture and make better-informed, more holistic decisions.
The D’Arcy Thompson Sustainaverse helped bring this shared knowledge to life, combining local insight and survey data in an interactive environment. Spatial visualisation reveals patterns, connections and differences across places and communities, while a temporal perspective shows how environments change over time, helping identify trends and explore future trajectories.
Bringing this knowledge to life revealed connections between people, place and change across space and time. Possibilities were demonstrated through four Firth of Forth visual stories: Seagrass, Birds, Blue Mussels and a vision for Granton Coastal Park. We include a little video explaining the DArcy Thompson Sustainaverse.
Slides from our Speakers
Story-telling excerpts from our Talking Heads interviews
The Resulting Policy Ask
As policy moves towards a more place-based approach, embed local environmental knowledge and meaningful community participation at the heart of decision-making.
ECCI Workshop Pledges
Thank You
Much of our work is carried out on a voluntary basis, with additional support coming from project funding when our bids are successful.
If you value what we do and would like to support our work, any contribution would be greatly appreciated. Your donation will help us cover practical costs such as materials, printing and other resources needed to deliver our projects.
Every contribution, no matter the size, helps us continue what we do. Thank you for your support.