P3DM is a relatively new communicative facilitation method conceived to support collaborative processes related mainly to resource use and tenure and aimed at facilitating grassroots participation in problem analysis and decision-making. P3DM integrates people’s knowledge and spatial information to produce stand-alone scale relief models that have proved to be user-friendly and relatively accurate data storage and analysis devices and at the same time excellent communication media.
 |
 |
| Application in Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal |
|
Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM); merges conventional spatial information (contours) with people's mental maps; makes information tangible and meaningful-to-all, and visualizes scaled and geo-coded indigenous spatial knowledge. It describes the process of developing a physical modelling of an area by a wide range of participants of local communities. Based on a on a physical elevation model built by the participants the informants use pushpins, yarns (thread or wool) and paints to depict land use and land cover and other features. Different materials and colors allow a 3-D model to function like a rudimentary community-based GIS accommodating overlapping layers of information. The outcome is a physical 3 dimensional model of an area that facilitates local planning and on the most tangible level. Such a physical model is extremely useful to establishing visual relations between resources, tenure, their use and jurisdiction. However, the process itself is a crucial part of the method, with regard to the perspective on the environment, but also the community dynamics as a whole.
A P3D modeling process is also expected to:
- raise local awareness of interlocked ecosystems and improve understanding of the geography of the region
- Serve as a community-organizing tool, because it gathers people to share information and concerns