Tuesday, September 06, 2011

E-Book launch: Participatory GIS and Land Planning


Dr Françoise Orban-Ferauge, or Françoise to many of her friends in the Philippines, will be launching her e-book "PGIS and Land Planning: Life Experiences for People Empowerment and Community Transformation" on 23 August 2011 at the University of Saint La Salle in Bacolod City.

The book highlights the effectiveness of "participation" as the key ingredient of good Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS) practice. It positively invites the reader to reflect about it through the sharing of a range of experiences and case studies. Learning from numerous applications mainly led by the author in the Philippines, this e-book aims to clarify the notions of Participatory Geography, People's Empowerment, Quadripartite Partnership, and Power Sharing, in an action-oriented research that highlights the use of GIS. The role and responsibility of the scientists are analyzed, facing the ethical challenges and the limits of the approach.

PGIS practice is about empowering ordinary people in adding value and authority to their spatial knowledge through the use of geographic information technologies and maps as a media to effectively communicate by increasingly using Web 2.0 applications and related multimedia.

Dr Orban-Ferauge was awarded the 2008 Signum Lasallanum Award for her passion and energy for co-development that bridges technology with social advancement and generates hope and synergy among many international communities and partners. She recently retired as the Head of the Department of Geography, University of Namur in Belgium but continues to actively engage with Philippine-based research organizations. At ESSC, she continues to support and actively engage with the Institute's work in upland communities and resource management.

The e-book was written in collaboration with V. Aguilar, E. Alarcon, A. Carmona, N. Daix, B. Denil, A. Ignacio, J. Martinez, M. McCall, G. Miscione, E. Olivarez, M. Pandan, G. Rambaldi, R. Teruel, and J. Verplanke.

Download a pdf version of the book.

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