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Participatory mapping for transformation: multiple visual representation of foodscapes and environment in informal settlements in Nairobi
Abstract
Although branded as ‘obstructionists’ and major agents of ‘disease and filth’ by city authorities, food vendors remain the pivotal node in the local food system in most informal settlements; therefore, their interaction with the environment and infrastructure services, and challenges they face to keep the food safe to eat, requires further grounded exploration. Food vendors from informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya, who are acting as mappers and change agents, are building multi-layered views of places through the deliberative process of knowledge coproduction by participatory sensing, which lead to opportunities and challenges to improve those places.
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PGIS is an evolved form of community mapping, the result of a spontaneous merger of Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) methods with Geographic information Technologies and Systems (GIT&S).
If used appropriately, PGIS practice may have profound implications and stimulate innovation and social change. PGIS aims at placing control on access and use of culturally sensitive spatial data in the hands of those who generated the data thereby protecting traditional knowledge and wisdom from external exploitation.
The articles represent a considerable depth of experience, documenting established and cutting-edge tools and a selection of articles on theory and reflections from practice – including ethical considerations, potential pitfalls and other lessons learnt from experience.
This paper describes the enumerations of informal settlements undertaken in 2010 by the National Slum Dwellers Federation of Uganda in the cities of Arua, Jinja, Kabale, Mbale and Mbarara, covering about 200,000 people. It describes how this federation was founded and subsequently developed through an earlier enumeration and initial work in informal settlements in Kampala. It also discusses the relationship between the federation and other actors, including the national government and Cities Alliance, and their role in supporting the formation of the federation. It explains how federation members developed the capacity to undertake the enumerations and later improved upon those skills, for example developing a GIS, to support the planning and implementation of upgrading by federation, local and national government agencies. The paper ends with a discussion of the way enumerations can encourage the rapid maturation of urban poor groups and their relationship with their cities and other development actors and the larger political context.
This paper describes the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to map informal settlements in Cuttack, India in ways that enhance and support residents’ participation in the data collection and planning process. Rather than relying on remote sensing to identify informal settlement locations, each settlement is visited individually by a mapping team comprised of community leaders and NGO staff. The mapping team meets with settlement residents to develop a detailed settlement profile and map the settlement boundary using a GPS device. This process has helped to open and sustain a dialogue between the residents of informal settlements and city government around “slum” upgrading, and has influenced the use of a central government fund to support local upgrading plans.
This paper describes an enumeration of all households living in informal settlements in Kisumu, Kenya, implemented by their inhabitants and supported by savings groups, the Kenyan Homeless People’s Federation (Muungano wa Wanvijiji), of which they are members, and Pamoja Trust, a Kenyan NGO. This work included collecting data on each household, numbering each structure and providing photo identity cards to each household. It also included the preparation of detailed maps defining the boundaries of all house structures along with features of the site, with a level of accuracy and detail needed for upgrading and providing secure tenure. The data from the enumeration helped inform the residents of each settlement about their needs, and supported their collective discussions about priorities. The enumeration in Kisumu is part of a larger enumeration and mapping programme, both within Kenya and in many other nations, supported by organizations and federations of the urban poor.
Within volunteered geographic information (VGI), citizen science stands out as a class of activities that require special attention and analysis. Citizen science is likely to be the longest running of VGI activities, with some projects showing continuous effort over a century. In addition, many projects are characterised by a genuine element of volunteering and contribution of information for the benefit of human Knowledge and science. They are also tasks where data quality and uncertainty come to the fore when evaluating the validity of the results. This chapter provides an overview of citizen science in the context of VGI - hence the focus on geographic citizen science. This chapter highlights the historical context of citizen science and its more recent incarnation. It also covers some of the cultural and conceptual challenges that citizen science faces and the resulting limitation on the level of engagement. By drawing parallels with the Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS) literature, the chapter offers a framework for participation in citizen science and concludes with the suggestion that a more participatory mode of citizen science is possible. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. All rights reserved.
Although participatory approaches to geographic information system (GIS) use have significantly altered the technological and social practices of GIS-based research and decision making, they have received relatively little attention within discussions of participatory research. This paper examines how participation and representation are negotiated in participatory GIS research through everyday practices of knowledge production. Inclusion and exclusion in the production of knowledge in participatory GIS are mediated within several intersecting arenas of research practice simultaneously, often with contradictory implications, priorities, and outputs.
Public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) pertains to the use of geographic information systems (GIS) to broaden public involvement in policymaking as well as to the value of GIS to promote the goals of nongovernmental organizations, grassroots groups, and community-based organizations. The article first traces the social history of PPGIS. It then argues that PPGIS has been socially constructed by a broad set of actors in research across disciplines and in practice across sectors. This produced and reproduced concept is then explicated through four major themes found across the breadth of the PPGIS literature: place and people, technology and data, process, and outcome and evaluation. The themes constitute a framework for evaluating current PPGIS activities and a roadmap for future PPGIS research and practice.
Multiple representations, significations, and epistemologies in community-based GIS. Qualitative GIS: a mixed methods approach
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Elwood, S. (2009). Multiple representations, significations, and epistemologies in community-based
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The role of local government in
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