Mental Mapping and Spatial Awareness among Urban Policymakers in CEE/FSU

The dataset comprises mental maps of five cities in CEE/FSU produced by a broad spectrum of urban policymakers, understood here as any actors who influence the formulation of urban policies. These actors fall into three categories:Public officials (both elected and appointed), including civil servants and urban planners employed by municipal administrations at managerial and subordinate levels;Business representatives - primarily real-estate developers, property owners, and employees of IT companies whose operations depend on urban space, and companies active in the leisure and tourism sectors;Urban reviewers - individuals who critically evaluate urban issues, such as analysts, researchers, journalists, and activists.However, these roles may overlap when someone has experience in multiple fields.Respondents’ sketches were collected during individual semi-structured, in-depth interviews (IDI) conducted with the aforementioned policymakers in five cities: Leipzig (Germany), Warsaw (Poland), Kyiv and Lviv (Ukraine), and Tallinn (Estonia). The material was gathered during field-research trips carried out between 2021 and 2024. Ukrainian interviews occurred in the summer and autumn of 2021, shortly before Russia’s full-scale invasion. Although the study focuses on so-called post-socialist cities, the dataset can be used for broader investigations of contemporary urbanization processes.During the interviews, respondents were asked to identify positive, neutral, and negative elements, places, and problems relevant to their city using three colors - green for positives, black for neutrals, and red for negatives. They produced freehand sketches in any technique they preferred - stand-alone cartographic renderings, perspective drawings, mind, or word maps. To minimize interviewer influence, no base maps (printed or digital) were provided; respondents generated their associative maps entirely from memory.