Social cartography and affective maps: a methodological proposal for social policies

Abstract

Social cartography techniques can be allied to territorial management in social policies when developed in cooperation with public service workers and the population served by them. The use of cartographic technologies incorporated into interdisciplinary methods has facilitated the understanding of territorialities and promoted the improvement of studies of subjectivities. The public services that operate in the territory need tools that help the elaboration of more accurate diagnoses with the reality of the population, as well as, they lack qualitative information to understand more complex contexts in view of the particularity of the services. In this sense, we seek to develop a methodological proposal using social cartography practices and affective maps in order to enable, through the techniques of investigating feelings and emotions, the production of cartographic representations that allow the spatial visualization of the expressions of esteem of people in in relation to their places of life. This mapping proposal follows criteria that transform qualitative data into quantitative ones, aiming to meet the demands of social policies in a functional and practical way, supporting decision-making with more specific and particular elements of each territory where the population lives.