Power, Participation, and Inflexible Institutions
An Examination of the Challenges to Community Empowerment in Participatory GIS Applications
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14701680 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter A Kwaku Kyem (Central Connecticut State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2001 |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 3-4 |
| Pages | 5-17 |
| Publication date | 2001-11-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cartographica The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0317-7173 • E-ISSN: 1911-9925 |
| Publisher | University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.3138/2j31-4648-6p62-6p78 |
| OpenAlex | W1986849906 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 21 |
| References cited | 6 |
Participatory GIS (PGIS) applications provide tools that allow underprivileged groups to make a case for recognition, participation, and political access. These community-based applications have therefore become the focal point for claims about public participation and empowerment. However, empowerment is a difficult and complex process necessitating the transformation of bureaucratic organizations into flexible institutions that address the concerns of marginalized groups in society. This process involves shifts in power relations during which PGIS organizations confront deeply embedded structures and vested political interests. Opposition from local leaders, unfamiliar customs and rituals, and lack of infrastructure and skilled GIS personnel impede successful participation and empowerment. Additionally, reliance on external sources of funding and expertise for PGIS projects severely limits their long-term sustainability. To date, PGIS applications have produced case studies about attempts to empower communities, but few studies have focused on how the community-based organizations and the contexts of PGIS applications mediate the community empowerment process. This article explores ways in which the internal and external environments of a PGIS organization influence the community empowerment process. Experiences from PGIS studies in southern Ghana are used to illustrate the constraints that these factors impose on community empowerment
Bureaucracy · Business · Citizen journalism · Empowerment · Opposition (politics · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · Sustainability · Geographic Information Systems Studies
Critical Issues in Participatory GIS
Constructing Community Through Maps? Power and Praxis in Community Mapping∗
Participatory GIS-Based Approach for the Demarcation of Village Boundaries and Their Utility
ICT-mixed community participation model for development planning in a vulnerable sandbank community
Identification of artisanal fishing territories and associated conflicts in the middle and lower Paraná River (Argentina) through participatory mapping
Reclaiming neighbourhood identity through colour placemaking
Globalized Conflicts, Globalized Responses. Changing Manners of Contestation Among Indigenous Communities
The cash crop boom in southern Myanmar
Empowerment and Participatory Geographic Information and Multimedia Systems
Synergies of participatory mapping and health geography
Participatory geographic information systems for the co-production of science and policy in an emerging boundary organization
Bridging the Academic–Public Divide in GIS and Cartography
Participatory GIS - a people's GIS
Political geography - political geographies of globalization III
Rethinking community empowerment in the energy transformation
Cultural Planning in the United States
ICT-driven projects for land governance in Kenya
Is VGI participation? From vernal pools to video games
An integrated framework to evaluate the equity of urban public facilities using spatial multi-criteria analysis
Uses of Public Participation Geographic Information Systems Applications in E‐Government
Integrating sketch mapping and hot spot analysis to enhance capacity for community-level flood and disaster risk management
| Citations per year | 0.95 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2004 - 2026 (23) |
| Highly cited | No |