Dr. Logan Cochrane, Associate Professor at the College of Public Policy (CPP), has co-authored a chapter titled “Participatory digital mapping as a research method” in a new book highlighting the impact of contemporary approaches to participatory research and enquiry.

Drawing from different disciplines, 'The SAGE Handbook of Participatory Research and Inquiry' offers an overview of different influences on participatory research, exploring in detail how to address critical issues and design effective processes, with detailed accounts of how to use a wide range of participatory research methods. Authors from around the globe reflect on ways to harness the power of technology and extend the scope of participatory research to diverse groups of people, including the “poorest and most marginalized” members of society.      

A review by Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, states: “Achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and meeting commitments to the Paris Agreement requires impactful solutions that reach the poorest and most marginalized to deliver on the promise of the SDGs to leave no one behind [...] This Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of different participatory research methods that researchers with varied expertise in the field can use to support the type of social transformation that we need.”

Dr. Cochrane’s chapter discusses participatory digital mapping as a research method that strengthens participation and makes it highly scalable geographically. Employing a range of tools, the method can be described as a mapmaking process that strives to make visible the relationship between a place and local communities through the use of cartography. His co-authors are Dr. Jon Corbett, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia and co-director of the Centre for Social, Spatial and Economic Justice, and Yasmine Zeid, Partnerships Officer at the UN World Food Programme.

'Handbook of Participatory Research and Inquiry' was released by SAGE Publications in September 2021, and can be purchased in hardcover or as an eBook here.