Introduction to socio-ecological analysis based on the collective mapping of someone’s own territory: uses made by different social actors and their associated conflicts

Abstract:

The present article exposes a practice in the course “Ecology and Development” in a school of natural sciences. The objective is to promote the students’ appropriation of the campus space, the socio-environmental conflicts, and the concepts of socio-ecological systems. Through discussion and the use of aerial images, bibliographical information, journalistic notes, photographs and the narration of a member of the University Campus Community Plant Nursery, landscape changes and its uses are historically reconstructed. The work has led to the identification of different actors involved, a spatial visualization of the uses they make of space, and the identification of conflicts. This didactic and technical tool has proven to be a valuable device to facilitate dialogue among different actors.

Keywords:
Higher education; Social ecology; Ecological interaction; University campus; Ecological consciousness