Michael K. McCall – författare

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. This illuminating Research Agenda opens up current debates and outlines potential developments in participatory mapping, an approach and set of practices relating to people’s spatial knowledge and dedicated to spatial and environmental justice. Leading experts analyse scientific, methodological, social-political-cultural and technical issues in participatory mapping and Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS), emphasising ethics and good practice. Investigating key issues, contested approaches and methodologies, researchers highlight the ethical dimensions of respect, safety and authority of knowledge. Chapters assess participatory mapping and PPGIS in citizen science and in affirming identity, with specific applications ranging from mapping indigenous culture and memories, to traditional land management and inclusive urban accessibility. Critiquing both innovative developments such as soundscapes and projection models, as well as established tools such as 3D modelling, remote sensing and phone apps, chapters also address meta issues, including evaluating outcomes of mapping applications and the impacts of AI. A Research Agenda for Participatory Mapping and PPGIS is a valuable resource for scholars and students of geography, participatory research approaches and politics and public policy. Practitioners looking to implement PPGIS will benefit from its evaluation of current debates and potential developments in the field.

The vision of this book is to bring together examples of grounded geographic research carried out in Latin America regarding territorial processes. These encompass a range of histories, processes, strategies and mechanisms, with case studies from ten countries and many regions: struggles to reclaim indigenous lands, conflicts over land/resource/environmental services, competing land claims, urban territorial identities, state power strategies, commercial involvements and others. The case studies included in the book represent a wide diversity of theoretical and methodological framings currently deployed in Latin America to help interpret the patterns and processes through the conceptual lenses of territory, territoriality and territorialization. Interrogating the meanings of territory introduces multiple spatial, socio-cultural and political concepts including space, place and landscape, power, control and governance, and identity and gender.