Beyond Top-Down Narratives: Thick Mapping and Participatory Spatial Development in Coastal Colombia

In the face of intensifying climate disruptions, coastal landscapes like Necoclí in Colombia’s Department of Antioquia are sites of both vulnerability and resilience. This paper examines how thick mapping acts as a methodology for decentralized spatial planning and a practice of revolutionary care by amplifying youth voices and fostering situated climate adaptation. Drawing from a participatory mapping process co-developed with young people, we reflect on how community-based approaches can trigger territorial restructuring from the bottom up. Through storytelling, visual documentation, and collective drawing, the mapping process brought to light lived experiences and local ecological knowledge that are often excluded from technocratic spatial integration strategies. These thick maps function as tools for sub-local territorial agency, allowing youth to reconnect with their landscapes while providing municipal administrations with the granular data needed for equitable spatial development. The paper explores how this form of mapping challenges top-down adaptation narratives and enables more inclusive planning for just futures by centering the territorial dimensions of climate risk. Our findings reveal a profound divergence in territorial perception: while older settlers maintain a narrative of loss tied to a lush, forested past, children’s drawings expose an internalized ecological thinning, characterized by the absence of native flora and the threatening proximity of a rising sea. Ultimately, this study demonstrates how thick mapping contributes to socio-ecological transitioning by bridging the gap between national climate policies and the spatial expression of local needs in frontline communities.