Enhancing Participatory Development in Morocco: Analyzing the Sketch Mapping Behavior of Men and Women and Integrating Paper and Digital Participatory Mapping Environments
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Stern, Cora
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Abstract
Twelve participatory paper maps by separate groups of men and women were facilitated by the High Atlas Foundation in six communities in Morocco between 2010-2020 as part of their process of participatory development. In this thesis research, these sketch maps are analyzed for the first time. History and methods of participatory mapping are discussed in the context of gender dynamics and sustainable development in the postcolonial setting of Morocco. Spatial webs, gazetteers, and gender trends in sketch map content creation, positional accuracy, and OpenStreetMap contributions are also discussed. The twelve participatory paper maps underwent a gender-focused content frequency analysis. Seven communities were located using OpenStreetMap and Google Maps by a High Atlas Foundation expert. It was found that men contributed more overall geographic elements and written Arabic commentary than women, which could indicate a higher level of familiarity with their community and comfortability communicating their opinions in writing. It was also found that there are many barriers to adding data from the sketch maps to OpenStreetMap due to language, loss of institutional memory, and inconsistencies between the sketch maps and satellite imagery.
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Participatory development, Participatory map, High Atlas Foundation, Participatory mapping, Sketch Map, OpenStreetMap