Session 11

11. Spatial Methods in Transdisciplinarity and Interdisciplinarity for Urban Sustainability

Session Informations:

Day: Saturday, Sept. 10th
Time: 09:15 – 11:15 (BRT)
Duration: 120 min

Session Abstract:

Since the publication of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015, transdisciplinarity has been accentually gaining traction among scholars concerned with the issue of urban sustainability. Given that it betokens a kind of knowledge production that is innately forged in research-practice collaborations between scientific researchers and local practitioners (based in NGOs, private firms or local government agencies) as well as independent policy-makers or artists, transdisciplinarity research for urban sustainability, on the one hand, makes evident that this kind of research is not only action-bent but also of transformative nature. On the other hand, transdisciplinarity for urban sustainability confronts both social scientists and urban planners with the epistemological and methodological dilemmas implicit in working together in interdisciplinary research-practice projects. After all, the disciplinary knowledge traditions and methodological understandings are different: social scientists might not accept a SWOT analysis as a method since it is normative per se or criticise the casual application of quantitative standardized methods for activating surveys in community development; planners, on the other hand, might find some spatial-sociological research pointless because it lacks applicability, and they may devalue theory building as a pure intellectual thought exercise that does not help to improve spatial conditions. In light of this state of affairs, this session aims to get to the bottom of these different trans- and interdisciplinary approaches to methods regarding spatial research on urban sustainability, and strengthen the dialogue between the social sciences and planning. We particularly welcome papers that critically address any of the following issues: (i) the theoretical, or methodological role of spatial methods in a transdisciplinary or interdisciplinarity research-practice agenda of urban sustainability, whether or not jointly led by social scientists and urban planners; (ii) incremental, evolutionary, and social learning approach in transdisciplinary research and practice; (iii) the appropriateness of spatial methods to the diverse trans- or interdisciplinary partners, issues and contexts, especially those comprising the cooperation between social scientists and urban planners; (iv) any common lines of discussion between trans- or interdisciplinary and participatory research that make use of spatial methods.

Paper presentations:

Sub-session 11.1. Experiencing and Conceptualizing Transdisciplinarity

Moderator: Ariane Sept

  • Students’ Critical View on Spatial Methods Applied to Homelessness in Transdisciplinarity
    • Authors: Giulia Pereira Patitucci, Caio Moraes Reis, Anna Carolina Martins Silva, Ednan Silva Santos, Ana Carolina Martins Gil, Giovanna Olinda dos Santos Bernardino

Sub-session 11.2. Evaluation and Monitoring

Moderator: Ignacio Castillo Ulloa

  • RBM, a Necessity for Implementability Evaluation of Settlement Sustainability in Spatial Plans of Less Developed Regions
    • Authors: Samaneh Niazkhani, Esfandiar Zebardast, Angela Million
  • Methodological Construction for Monitoring Socio-environmental and Climate Vulnerability in the Scope of Public Management in the State of Rio de Janeiro
    • Authors: Yuri Guedes Maia, Marcos Thimoteo Dominguez, Samantha Sales Dias, Leonardo Menezes Kaner, Mateus Ribeiro Rodriguez, Pedro Ferreira Chagas Araújo

Sub-session 11.3. Experiencing and Conceptualizing Interdisciplinarity

Moderator: Fraya Frehse

  • Methodological Enquiry on Inclusivity in Public Sanitation in Indian Cities: An Interdisciplinary Approach for Contextual Research
    • Authors: Divyang Purkayastha, Gaurav Raheja
  • Attempt of a Heuristic to Classify Methodological Approaches in Planning
    • Author: Ariane Sept