PLACEMAKING FOR AND BY RESIDENTS: PARTICIPATORY MAPPING IN NIBONG TEBAL

THE NIBONG TEBAL Cultural Heritage Project, an extraordinary grassroots effort, has brought to life the stories of diverse communities in this southern township on Penang’s peri-urban fringe. Spearheaded by Arts-ED, a Penang-based arts and education non-profit, this participatory mapping project places local voices at the centre of heritage documentation—literally putting them on the map.

While Arts-ED has long been involved in community-based arts and education initiatives, from its early days mapping George Town’s living heritage to engaging schoolchildren in Balik Pulau and Sungai Pinang, this Nibong Tebal effort goes a step further in community participation. Instead of researchers simply extracting information, residents were invited to share feedback on the outputs, from deciding banner locations to debating language choices.

From the outset, the team prioritised resident participation and inclusion, such as collecting data through community stories, then curating and verifying them collaboratively before shaping the final outputs. Considerations were taken on aesthetics, location, representation and inclusivity for the final map outputs.

The project was carried out with the support of a six-month Seberang Perai Small Towns Grant from ThinkCity, from November 2024 to May 2025. It culminated in a cultural assets map, a historical timeline of the district and a collection of oral histories. The mapping, published as illustrated booklets and infographic posters, will be distributed to schools, suraus, temples and community centres across the district, alongside a dedicated website for online presence.

Participatory Mapping

“We’re showing that everyday people’s stories are valuable, and deserve to be visualised, preserved and shared.”

The senior manager of Arts-Ed, Chen Yoke Pin, added that the bottom-up approach went beyond simply documenting stories; it also involved other forms of community engagement such as collaboration and mutual support. To achieve diversity in representation—helpful for painting amore accurate story—Chen said her team held focus group dialogues and cross-cultural sessions to ensure broad and inclusive representation.

“And in the process, [the different communities] began listening to each other, maybe for the first time,” said Chen.

It’s not just about capturing stories; the initiative also provides visibility to Nibong Tebal’s lesser-known cultural assets and helps communities reconnect with their cultural roots and local history.

Calling the initiative a “special platform for local community members to share personal stories of growing up and living here”, Chen said the outputs are more than just data—they are a testament to a participatory process that has strengthened Nibong Tebal residents’ sense of ownership and identity.

“Our aim is to increase inclusivity and build bridges among local communities through a common appreciation of shared heritage,” she said.

Stories From Four Distinct Communities

The project engaged residents from four sectors of Nibong Tebal’s diverse population: the fishing community of Sungai Udang, residents and school communities in the old town, estate workers from Caledonia Estate, and paddy farmers and inshore fishermen in Sungai Acheh. Through fieldwork and interviews, the six-member team worked closely with locals to identify and document both tangible and intangible cultural heritage, from family-run food traditions and community rituals to forgotten landmarks and folk tales.

Most residents are accustomed to seeing their neighbourhoods represented in a homogenous context, such as on mosque maps, Chinese temple newsletters or school directories; the new map’s inclusive storytelling is a novelty.

“They started seeing themselves in relation to each other. A fisherman heard the story of a café owner, an estate worker listened to stories from a temple committee head. This was unusual,” Chen added.

Language played a central role in the dialogue. Initially working with limited funding that allowed for just two languages, the team chose Bahasa Malaysia and English. Chinese was later added after members of the Chinese community volunteered funds to support the printing. As for Tamil, upon consultation with the Indian community, it was pointed out that many younger residents could no longer read the script. Instead, partial translations and oral communications were agreed to be more effective.

“What was interesting was how other communities, Malay and Chinese, were also listening in on that conversation. It deepened mutual understanding about the realities of each group,” said Chen, who also shared how trust was built with residents through open and genuine conversations. She said that being visible and approachable in the community and sharing their past work helped build credibility and trust.

“It’s about how they fit into the community. And it gives people a sense of what it is all about. Like a tapestry, you weave them together,” she said. Project coordinator, Amanda Chin, 25, who is one of the two youngest team members, shared her experience as a first-time field researcher. “Being young, I felt I was seen as non-threatening,” she reflected. “People opened up. But I also saw how important it was to build trust and how much these little interactions mean.”

She also pointed out that more could be done to involve youth and women in future efforts. There is an untapped potential in engaging younger people, especially in language-specific communities.

Despite the rise of digital storytelling, Chen believes printed maps still carry a certain charm and function. “A visitor once asked me, ‘Who still prints maps?’ I told them, yes, people do still print maps. We’re not always working with the young, who are more comfortable with digital tools. For older folks and even the middle-aged, a physical map like this helps them see the stories of a place more clearly and holistically, even romantically,” she said, adding that there is a kind of nostalgia in holding something physical.

Final Touches

While the final maps benefit from the expertise of a creative director and a graphic layout team, Chen acknowledged that producing the visuals, layout and illustrations remained a challenging and time-consuming process. But the effort was worth it—once completed, the printed maps become the community’s asset.

Its physical format also creates space for community investment. Rather than being freely distributed en masse, additional printed copies were sponsored by community groups who value them more because they had a stake in their production. “They provided the funds, so they appreciate the maps more. They also decide who would receive them and this gives the maps even more meaning.”

This model of community-funded distribution also facilitated community engagement about where banners should go, what languages they should feature and who should access them. Such involvement signals that the maps have become more than tools, said Chen. They have become symbols of local pride.

The Nibong Tebal participatory mapping effort is a quiet shift in the way people and places are documented. They have drawn a new kind of map—one that charts the unseen connections between people.

*Note: For more on Arts-ED’s work in community-based arts and heritage documentation, visit www.arts-ed.my.