This innovative digital, map-based crowdsourcing initiative enables residents to co-create history by contributing images, oral histories, and documents, creating a richer, more diverse historical record of the city.  

The initiative has been particularly successful in encouraging underrepresented groups, including low-income and LGBT+ communities, to document and preserve their histories. On average community members contribute 180 community uploads per month. 

At the project’s outset, the research team uploaded thousands of historical items from Bristol Record Office. This included 3,000 early 20th-century postcards and hundreds of photos taken in the 1960s and 1970s by the council’s urban design team. 

These contributions have shaped the city’s planning strategies and influenced urban regeneration projects. This includes the ‘Heritage-Based Design Approach’ developed for a major residential redevelopment in one of the city’s neglected neighbourhoods. 

The success of the project led to the broader Know Your Place West of England, which secured over £400,000 in Heritage Lottery funding. Encompassing eight local authorities this expanded initiative inspired similar projects nationwide. 

Know Your Bristol has been recognised with several prestigious awards, including the Historic England Angel Award and the Francis Tibbalds Urban Design Award. A project that illustrates how blending digital tools, historical research, and collaboration can inspire local communities to preserve their histories for future generations.