Treating place itself as a living archive — helping cities document, understand, and respond to spatial trauma through dignity-centered oral history, spatial analysis, and trauma-informed planning.
The Challenge
Cities are being asked to plan and invest in places shaped by violence, racial terror, displacement, environmental harm, and collective trauma. Yet most municipal planning systems lack the tools to recognize or respond to spatial trauma — the way unresolved harm stays embedded in physical places and continues to shape behavior, mobility, trust, and engagement with the built environment. When this happens, even well-intentioned projects can fail, reinforce harm, or trigger backlash.
Our Vision
By addressing spatial trauma head-on, cities can move beyond reactive responses and create planning practices that support long-term healing, sustainability, and spatial justice.
Our Approach
The Geography of Memory is Thrivance Group’s national oral history and trauma-informed planning initiative. Grounded in the Thrivance Framework and Dignity-Infused Community Engagement (DICE), it treats place as a living archive and gives cities a practical methodology to identify, document, and respond to spatial trauma before major investments are made.
How it Works
Each participating city runs a focused pilot that includes:
Trauma site identification and spatial mapping
Oral history collection and narrative mapping
Spatial analysis combining stories with GIS and planning data
Design & policy innovation labs with planners, residents, and trauma-informed practitioners
Community validation and refinement
City-specific planning playbook and national framework contributions
Delivered as a fee-for-service engagement, the pilot aligns with existing planning priorities, federal equity requirements (IIJA, ARPA, HUD), and ongoing community benefit efforts.
What Participating Cities Receive
Spatial Trauma Assessment Report
GIS maps of trauma-informed planning areas
Curated oral history archive
Design and policy recommendations
Trauma-informed engagement guidance
City-specific planning playbook
Cities also join a national learning network to help shape a broader Spatial Trauma Screening Tool and infrastructure-design guidance for national use.