Focus groups with residents
The 5th December afternoon we had a focus group with residents centered around maps. Through an initial exercise, they were asked to identify and sort their principal relations, from nearest to farthest. For this purpose, a simple tool was used: a map constituted of three concentric circles, at the center of which is the subject, in the inner circle the people and relationships considered as fundamental, regardless of the reason, and in the outermost one those equally important but more distant. The older ladies were then asked to present their own map one at a time, by so doing explaining the criteria and reasons behind their choice.

The purpose of this simple but meaningful exercise was to gradually conduct to fill of a second map, this time an actual reproduction of the Borgo Mazzini area, thus facilitating the introduction of the theme of spaces and the relationships that bind to them. Participants were in fact asked to identify their main spatial and relational landmarks (stores, pharmacies, parishes, bars …) starting, where possible, from the previously identified relationships and including other significant elements.


Finally, a collective map was realized by collecting what was indicated by individuals and what emerged from a group discussion. Such a map was intended to be not only the sum of the singular indications but to contain new elements that came out from the dialogue, a few of them shared, others new for some of the participants but recommended by others, e.g., a good deli or laundry where o staff is friendly and efficient. The idea was to first discover and then bring them to reflect on how the neighbourhood is, albeit in different ways, a place where each could find a piece of their everyday life, where their existences unfold along similar or different itineraries, where some references are central to all, in some ways associable with a community dimension, and others are proper of each individual.


The activity allowed us to observe the presence of several symbolic cores underlying the criteria participants adopted for compiling the relationship map: some of them prioritised physical safety, thus indicating figures with whom a rescue and assistance role was associated. Others, on the other hand, filled in starting from the idea of socialisation, and others moved from affection or, in some cases, material needs. These elements suggest the existence and the coexistence (sometimes in the same person) of multiple and diverse interpretations, imaginaries, and expectations in relation to bonding, networking, community, and, ultimately, of their “being in Borgo Mazzini.” Similar suggestions emerged from the filling of the other two maps and the dialogue that followed it, which showed the sharing of numerous spatial and relational references, to which, however, the participants gave different significations.
OpenEdition vi suggerisce di citare questo post nel modo seguente:
AGORAge (23 Dicembre 2022). Focus groups with residents. AGORAge. Recuperato il 17 Marzo 2026 da https://doi.org/10.58079/au0b



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