Urban stream degradation: a view from the social value. Urban streams of the city of Loja - Ecuador

Abstract

Urban rivers have become emerging territories due to the aggressive and polluting practices to which they are subjected, generating multiple impacts and risk scenarios. In this sense, paying attention to the voice of the local community is a category of analysis rarely used in decision-making, but it provides local knowledge for the development of more participatory and territorial solutions. Therefore, the study emphasizes integrating the local perspective, the preferences of the community and the places of value. Methodologically, the work is resolved from an ethnographic approach with observation visits, photographs and the dissemination of a virtual geo-form; These data were processed by a Participatory GIS, for the development of social cartographies. The results show the distribution of positive and negative value zones applied to the Zamora and Malacatos urban rivers in the city of Loja - Ecuador, together with the viability of the social and methodological approach as a planning tool.

Keywords: river landscape, social value, PPGIS, ecosystem services