Abstract for: Methodological insights from large-group causal mapping in a rural area with strong competing claims.

In a rural area that is currently facing the challenge of competing claims in land use and in policy, we aim to tell the story of the residents in a word-and-arrow diagram in order to inform the municipality and facilitate discussion on the future of the area. To that end, we organized a large kick off meeting open to all residents, followed by a smaller meeting for group model building. Due to the number of interested inhabitants, the group model building session had to be adapted. We used elements from the causal mapping with small groups script but worked with cards to pre-structure the discussions. Future steps include linking the causal loop diagram to spatially explicit maps and exploring policy options.