We are surrounded by the words and concepts of sustainability – however grounding them into local everyday reality can be challenging. The OurMelbourne2050 and OurSydney2050 sister community mapping projects provided a blank cartographic slates for people’s imagination, inviting participants to take pen, pencil, brush or glue to massive-scale physical city maps, where they inscribed their ideas for a holistically sustainable city. These fragments cross-polinated, creating a rich collective tapestry that reimagined and reinvented the city. OurSydney2050 featured as part of the LiveFutures2020 summit in Newtown, Sydney, with an additional pledge section, where participants typed out specific actions to move them closer to their future vision.