Community mapping with a public participation geographic information system in informal settlements

Abstract

This article shows how a public participation geographic information system (PPGIS) may be used as an asset to foster the right to the city. It describes the implementation of one such public participatory process for registering the story of the macrocampamento Los Arenales in Antofagasta, Chile. Specifically, it stresses how a geographic information system can help build collective engagement regarding special policies and urban life. Los Arenales is the largest macrocampamento in Antofagasta, comprising 13 different campamentos and being organised into a political structure aimed to achieve people's right to the city. In the study, a PPGIS process facilitated better comprehension of the shared history and spatial evolution of built and relational environments in Los Arenales. The PPGIS also provided valuable input for planning and decision-making processes in campamentos in terms of both how to build and organise inhabited spaces and how to conduct external political bargains to ensure the realisation of a collective urban form based on community engagement. In addition, the article considers the experience of applying a PPGIS in a context of extreme socio-economic scarcity, in which it facilitated people's recognition of their shared urban life on a map. Such insights were fostered by co-creating data in collaboration with different urban development practitioners.