Session 8

B4 Who and How Should we Include in Methodological Tools? Towards the Integration of Stakeholders and Different Approaches for Spatial Knowledge Construction

The social construction of spatial knowledge involves research efforts to illustrate topological relations, stakeholder ties, and distinct disciplines for data collection and analysis. Based on different ontological assumptions – objectivism and constructionism – in which the existence of knowledge varies, positivists argue that knowledge is value-free based on empiricism or objectivism, while interpretivists propose means to understand humans and their actions by interacting with the social world. In this regard, knowledge construction varies according to spatial representation, and therefore, requires the comprehension of social arrangements and processes of specific contexts. The complexity of social actions and the state of problems lead to the development of research methods to generate a body of knowledge relating to particular space in a more expansive way. Such development includes the extended engagement of various stakeholders as research participants working closely with a researcher that co-contribute to the clarity of research problems and knowledge construction of a given space. This panel focuses on research methods that go beyond particular disciplines, concepts, and actors to make sense of complex social actions in a specific space or setting. The panel discusses the who, how, and why that researchers have to include in their studies through participatory action research, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research methods or relevant approaches.