Participatory Geographic Information Science: Disclosing the Power of Geographical Tools and Knowledge in Agroecological Transition

Abstract

The chapter offers an outlook on the relations among geographical information science and agroecology to disclose the 'power of maps' in agro-ecological transformative scaling up. Starting from the focus on the place-based approach of agroecology, the authors explore some key elements of the debate on 'mapping for change' in geography and cartography, that have a long and consolidated epistemological and empirical habit on the reflections in the key role of maps in changing the world. The chapter presents the practices and reflections of counter-mapping and critical cartography emerged in the 'era' of pre-digital maps as a tool for empowerment of weak and marginalized actors in cities and the rural areas. There is a continuity from participatory 'material' cartography to 'immaterial' participatory and critical GIS, critical geosdesign, voluntary geography, and neogeography. Despite the low interactions, mostly informal, in the last decades among the science of geographical information and agroecology, there are many areas of common interest and mutual interaction and co-operation in the quest for agroecological transitions.