Environmental Justice, GIS, and Pedagogy

Abstract

Planning and public policy faculty are important players in framing and advancing PPGIScience. Parallel and complementary participatory models and dilemmas embodied in university–community partnerships can elucidate pedagogical issues that are key to such framing. The multiple modes of knowledge transfer, the lessons learned from partnering with community-based organizations, and efforts to implement GIS projects that best couple local knowledge with widely available digital data provide important insights for faculty and students. This article draws on lessons from one consortium's preliminary efforts to design Web GISystems that can support the environmental justice work of four community groups in New York City and New Jersey.