A Device to Improve Collaborative Practices of Sanitation Department Agents of a Territory: The Case of the Lamkansa District in Casablanca

Abstract

The aim of this article is to strengthen and improve the collaboration between professional agents of a service that manages one of the technical processes acting on a given territory by synchronizing the spatio-temporal dimensions including all agents assembled for the task. This proposal was tested in the Lamkansa neighborhood in Casablanca, Morocco. The employed approach is based GIS resources and on systemic analysis of communication present in a territory. We were inspired by several methodological developments that carried multi-actor processes in land use planning. We focused our work on strengthening the collaboration between professionals, field agents and office agents, in the process of design and monitoring the liquid sanitation system. The device is based on geolocation and synchronous feedback of topological, geographical, and multimedia data related to the liquid sanitation network. Thanks to a geo-collaborative, participative, and motivating logic, we reduced the management costs of the network and made it faster and more efficient by equally mobilizing another type of non-specialized actors (the inhabitants). This device uses spatial and temporal dimensions to consolidate collaborative work tools through ICT and GIS technologies that thematize and exchange information collected in the field. Furthermore, this device raises great interest as it entails the concept of integration of several actors in a geo-collaborative mode while combining geomatics with communication and information sciences.