Social cartographies as social management tools: technology for social inclusion

Abstract

New paradigms in social management which are characterized by a change from a hierarchical, bureaucratic and static perspective to a more strategic and innovative view emphasize the use and dissemination of information within organizations as a central aspect in the implementation of programs and public polices. Within this perspective the introduction of a territorial dimension in the process of social management has shown to be an efficient strategy to overcome sectorialized and/or centralized postures. The introduction of this dimension demands the appropriation of instruments capable of incorporating and treating spatial information in analytical processes. Geoprocessing is a privileged analytical tool in social management for its capacity to treat and represent spatial information in computational environments. Therefore it is necessary to establish the conceptual link between space for social management and the technology as a representational support, identifying the possibilities and limitations of its application.