Participatory and User-Centered Design for Hazard Mapping: A Case Study from Achoma, Peru

Abstract

Geologic hazards affect the community of Achoma, in Peru’s Colca Canyon. Building on a rockfall hazard characterization study, this article engages the principles of participatory mapping and user-centered design for the tailoring of hazard maps to the context. Two workshops were conducted with community members to gauge their perceptions of sample maps, preferences for design elements, and potential uses of maps, and to refine accuracy of map features. Each workshop consisted of three activities in which participants marked up and discussed sample maps. The activities focused on (1) basemap preferences and locally relevant features, (2) intelligibility of rockfall hazard information, and (3) intelligibility of color schemes and representations of hazard severity ratings. The outcomes of the workshops were used to inform design updates for a final hazard map, which was provided to community members and local officials. The study identified many design preferences that were similar to those found in prior studies and expanded the scope of participatory and user-centered design research in hazard mapping, which has mostly been conducted in the Global North.