Surakarta has put a lot of effort into promoting civic engagement. Numerous projects have been taken out since 2017 to help the local government with the upgrading of the slum community on the Kali Pepe and Bengawan Solo River riverbanks. The initiation comes from grass root programme. Clarifying the function of intermediary actors in the administration of participatory mapping on slum improvement projects is the goal of this study. The initiatives were based on the writers’ experiences while working on several community engagement programs for project upgrades between 2018 and 2022 at Surakarta City (Solo). The information is gathered through field research that is done concurrently with project execution. Selected participatory mapping projects included four case studies. The Kampung Layak Anak Project was run by Urban Rural Design and Conservation (URDC Labo) and ARKOM Solo in 2017, The Green Kampung Project was run by URDC Labo UNS and SIBAT Sewu in 2018, Bangkit Berbarengan was run by URDC Labo and ARKOM Solo in 2020, and Mojo’s participatory mapping of a children-friendly environment (2022) are just a few examples. Several participants were involved in the neighborhood data collection process, and participatory mapping technologies were applied. It will explore these conflicts to look at the role intermediate partners play in empowering communities. Since participatory mapping pertains to both top-down and bottom-up methodologies, the findings primarily focus on the ambiguity of participation in the context of Solo. Another conclusion highlights the role of intermediary actors, such as academics, ARKOM, KOTAKU, and Sibat Sewu, in efforts to restructure urban areas.