Supporting sustainability

through geographic

information and public

participation – civic science

and stakeholder involvement

in the Eco-Gozo project

Dr Maria Attard

Dr Mordechai Haklay

Dr Claire Ellul

Authors

• Dr Maria Attard, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development and Lecturer in Geography, University of Malta

• Dr Muki Haklay, Director of the Chorley Institute, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London

• Dr Claire Ellul, Lecturer in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London

Context

• In 2009 Government of Malta launched the

initiative of Eco-Gozo.

• A number of actions related to Economy,

Environment, Society and Identity were

identified. In each priority area a focus was

made on particularly pressing sectors and

a list of specific actions identified for

implementation.

Economy Environment Society Identity &

Culture

Tourism Agriculture Education Culture & Arts

Transport Natural Heritage Health Cultural

Heritage

Air Quality Sport Voluntary

Sector

Energy Sectorial

Issues

Water

Waste

Objectives of the Research

• Establish the important role and functions of civic society in the planning and development of projects like Eco-Gozo.

• Identify the importance of geographic data and the need for participatory geographic information systems (PGIS) to support sustainability.

• Propose a framework of how PGIS could be developed to support the Eco-Gozo project.

Sustainable Planning

• Achieved through holistic approaches and community involvement.

• A holistic approach embraces the natural and the built environment - the landscape. However landscape can be easy to understand but difficult to define.

• Stakeholder participation is not only important in satisfying the requirements of Agenda 21 but also of ensuring cooperation in the implementation.

• Participation is accepted as a vehicle for planners to gain access to local knowledge complementing scientific knowledge.

Sustainable Planning

• Knowledge of the landscape comes traditionally from scientific methods of research and mapping.

• Gozo’s landscape was assessed as part of the Landscape Assessment Study carried out by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) in 2004.

• The output of this assessment was the identification of areas of high landscape value.

Sustainable Planning

• Planning must be collaborative and has to

facilitate effective communication between

participants so that the information has meaning

for all participants.

• The most important aspect is to bring together

information in such a way that the professional

scientific community, the lay stakeholders,

planners and policy makers can all communicate

meaningfully and contribute information during

the process of constructing a shared vision.

Sustainable Planning

• The way the

environment is

understood scientifically

or locally has

implications on decision

making.

• Many support the use of

both local knowledge

(civic science) and

scientific knowledge.

Geographic Information and GIS

• Tools have been developed to facilitate participation of civic society in planning their own environment.

• Traditional participatory methods do not allow for interaction, development and manipulation of geographic data.

• Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been developed to visually express the desired future and bring together different groups.

• The community needs to be empowered to explore scientific data in line with their own interpretation of their landscape.

Geographic Information and PGIS

• This has been achieved

with Participatory GIS

(PGIS).

• For the first time there is

an opportunity for local

communities to put

themselves on the same

footing, in terms of

knowledge and

presentation, as planning

authorities and officials.

Examples of citizen participation

• The European Environment Agency’s Eye on

Earth - Citizen observatory on air and bathing

water quality

Geographic Information and PGIS

• Up to the development of Web mapping 2.0

technologies (Google Earth, Bing!) this

possibility was limited.

• With Google Earth, the prospects of participatory

GIS is within reach of many.

• Supporting this is the emergence of free and

open geographic data (OpenStreetMap Project)

where volunteers contribute data, some of which

in quite some detail.

Creating necessary infrastructures

• Despite all efforts to develop voluntary geographic information, effective decision-making requires quality spatial data.

• Voluntary data collection should be complementary to data made available for public consumption.

• Efforts to develop national spatial data infrastructures that support and encourage public use of geographic information are slowly developing (see Ordnance Survey in the UK http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/opendata/).

Creating necessary infrastructures

• Across Europe this movement has been mostly

driven by environment regulations at European

Union level that require member states to share

environmental and other data (INSPIRE).

• In addition, free data also creates and supports

innovative ideas and applications across

communities and provides a platform for

dialogue, thus stimulating public participation

and sustainable communities.

NOISE MAPPING

Applicability to Gozo

• The Eco-Gozo priority areas include spatial elements which have an impact on development. It is therefore important that any planning decision is analysed effectively.

• This exercise however need not be one carried out solely by Government, particularly if there are acceptance issues from the affected communities or NGO’s.

• Integrating information in one map and using the map as the medium of communication would allow government and public to interact and really plan change which is sustainable.

Applicability to Gozo

• The proposed framework of public and

community data would support the Eco-Gozo

project by ensuring that the public is engaged

not only in the planned projects but are also able

to communicate with government in the

development of the projects.

• Data collected by the community for the

community could be used to design and develop

maps [of change].

Applicability to Gozo

• This medium of communication which can be

very engaging and very effective can serve as a

support tool to achieve sustainability.

• Government and communities should come

together using such tools to ensure projects

such as Eco-Gozo, materialise not only through

government intervention but also through public

participation and acceptance.

Conclusions• The Government’s

vision for Gozo requires public acceptance and participation.

• Public engagement is important to raise awareness of the environment, increase the ability to read and handle geographic information and ensure change is sustainable.

Conclusions• Mapping tools exist

and examples show communities interacting with maps and drive change in their neighbourhoods.

• The provision of data and the collaboration between government and public to create new data are important elements that support participation and further enhance engagement.

Thank You

maria.attard@um.edu.mt

m.haklay@ucl.ac.uk

c.ellul@ucl.ac.uk

Visit our work at:

www.um.edu.mt/isd

www.mappingforchange.org.uk