Mapping Your City's Challenges

Think about a city you know well — your home city or one you have lived in. You are going to place its real problems on a quadrant to see where the pressure is.

Set Your Axes

The quadrant uses two axes from today's article. Label them: X-axis = Scale (Small Problem → Big Problem). Y-axis = Urgency (Can Wait → Needs Action Now). Write these on the grid in step 3.

Small Problem

→

Big Problem

Name Six Issues

List six real urban problems from the city you chose — use examples from the article (informal housing, vacant homes, lack of green space) or your own knowledge. Write them in your notebook.

Place Every Issue

Draw the quadrant and place all six issues by writing their names in the correct zone. Be honest — do not put everything in the same corner.

Can Wait

Needs Action Now

Small Problem

Big Problem

Analyse the Pattern

Look at your completed quadrant. Which zone has the most items? Which is emptiest? Look back at step 2 — does the original list still feel accurate, or would you move anything now? Write two sentences explaining what the pattern reveals about this city's priorities.

The Quadrant You Avoid

One quadrant — Big Problem, Can Wait — is the hardest for politicians to act on. Write the name of the issue from your city that belongs there and explain in two sentences why it keeps being postponed.

Why that word?

Discuss Tell your partner: which issue from your quadrant do you think there has been the most progress on in the last ten years, and why?

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