This report presents the results of a research project which assesses the use of Geographic Information Systems for Participation (GIS-P) to extract and present ‘lay’ knowledge. This methodology presents non-specialist perceptual information around spatially related problems in the form of ‘citizen maps’ of local issues. The clarity and conciseness of ‘citizen maps’ allows science-based decisionmakers to take into account citizen inputs which used to be ignored.
The research project applied GIS-P to the fields of local air quality management, environmental risk of breast cancer, and issues of urban and rural regeneration within the framework of sustainable development.
Findings of the research include:
- participation in spatial data collection does seem to be useful to understanding possible environmental risks
- activists saw GIS-P as a way of legitimising their experiential knowledge
- the citizen maps product of GIS-P, when digitised, can assume a visual legitimacy that puts them alongside other knowledges with different epistemological pedigrees