GIS for Equity and Social Justice

Overview

This workshop serves as an introduction to recent trends and practices related to using GIS for equity and social justice (ESJ). We explore critical race theory (CRT) and trends in critical race spatial analysis. We review recent literature and academic programs around the topic of GIS for ESJ. Most importantly, we outline best practices for GIS professionals in doing GIS for ESJ work. This includes creating a data/mapping/application support framework both for their own work and to support the work of non-GIS professionals.

Audience

• GIS professionals interested in ESJ work.
  GIS professionals are guided by the GIS Code of Ethics, which exist to “help professionals make appropriate and ethical choices,” to consider the impact of their work on society. For hundreds of years mapping has sometimes been a tool for creating and preserving inequity. During the past 25 years there have been some uses of GIS for issues related to equity or social justice.
• ESJ practitioners interested in using GIS for ESJ planning, analysis and program monitoring.
  ESJ practitioners who are not GIS professionals will become the largest community doing ESJ work with GIS. These non-GIS professionals include those who work for agencies, non-profits, and NGO’s with an ESJ mission, as well as government policy professionals who want to use GIS to support an ESJ lens for developing upstream agency policies.

Agenda and Topics Covered

1. Introduction and grounding exercise
2. Why GIS for equity and social justice (with class exercise)
3. Understanding how maps and GIS can be used to create long-term inequity
4. Critical race theory (with class exercise)
5. Principles of equity and social justice
6. How upstream policies impact downstream outcomes
7. The role of public policy
8. GIS code of ethics and moral imperative
9. The role of GIS professionals
10. Critical race spatial analysis
11. How GIS and maps can expose oppression and inequity
12. The role of ESJ practitioners
13. Best practices for GIS professionals doing ESJ work (with open discussion)
14. How GIS can be used to manage and monitor pro-equity policies (demo Esri-King County ESJ dashboard)
15. Examples of public agencies with ESJ policy priorities
16. Educational resources for GIS professionals
17. The URISA GIS for ESJ workgroup
18. Bibliography and acknowledgements
19. Final discussion, evaluation, and call to action

Recommendations

Familiarity with GIS tools, such as ArcGIS or QGIS, and business analytics tools, such as Tableau, Power BI, or Insights.

What You Will Receive

• 4.0 hours of instruction
• A copy of the workshop training materials.
• Upon completion, a signed completion certificate which will indicate the CEUs (0.4) and GISCI (0.10) points earned.

Our Students Speak

"This was interesting and informative."

"Well done…this was useful…a ton of information."

"Great introduction to this topic."