A review of transdisciplinary research in sustainability science

Brandt, Patric; Ernst, Anna; Gralla, Fabienne; Luederitz, Christopher; Lang, Daniel J.; Newig, Jens; Reinert, Florian; Abson, David J.; Wehrden, Henrik von

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.04.008

Cited by 658 publications

(551 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Concepts of sustainability and resilience resonate with different ways of knowing, values, motivations, and power dynamics across spatial and temporal domains. Therefore, they are bridging concepts ( [46] and Aldunce et al, this issue) that demand collaborative knowledge production between researchers, decision makers, and communities [73,74]. To find larger integrations of these concepts, it will be necessary to elicit differences and commonalities of meaning and scope between these stakeholders; to agree on what dimensions and attributes to include in analyses; and to address the social and spatial equity questions of for whom, what, when and where we want to promote sustainability and resilience.…”

Section: Technology)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Sustainability and Resilience: From Theory to Practice

Gnatz²,

et al. 2016

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Urbanization and urban areas are profoundly altering the relationship between society and the environment, and affecting cities' sustainability and resilience in complex ways at alarming rates. Over the last decades, sustainability and resilience have become key concepts aimed at understanding existing urban dynamics and responding to the challenges of creating livable urban futures. Sustainability and resilience have also moved and are now core analytic and normative concepts for many scholars, transnational networks and urban communities of practice. Yet, even with this elevated scholarly attention, strategies for bridging between research and practice remain elusive, and efforts to understand and affect change towards more sustainable and resilient urban centers have often fallen short. This paper seeks to synthesize, from this issue's papers and other strands of literature, the knowledge, theory and practice of urban sustainability and resilience. Specifically, we focus on what capacities urban actors draw on to create sustainability and resilience and how different definitions of these concepts intersect, complement, or contradict each other. We then examine the implications of those intersections and differences in the efforts by urban actors to enhance the capacity to change unsustainable trajectories and transform themselves, their communities, and their cities toward sustainable and resilient relationships with the environment.

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Section: Technology)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Sustainability and Resilience: From Theory to Practice

Gnatz²,

et al. 2016

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“…This strand of LTSER is part of the broad field of transdisciplinary sustainability sciences [44,45]. Out of nine projects in our sample, only two do not interact with regional stakeholders at all, while two involve regional stakeholders only as recipients of relevant project results, e.g., through media reports in regional media, leaflets produced with the national park, or in single interactions e.g., in individual interviews.…”

Section: Transdisciplinary Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research in Practice: Lessons from Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research in the Austrian Eisenwurzen

Gingrich¹,

Schmid²,

Dirnböck

et al. 2016

Sustainability

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Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) is an inter-and transdisciplinary research field addressing socio-ecological change over time at various spatial and temporal scales. In the Austrian Eisenwurzen region, an LTSER platform was founded in 2004. It has fostered and documented research projects aiming at advancing LTSER scientifically and at providing regional stakeholders with relevant information for sustainable regional development. Since its establishment, a broad range of research activities has been pursued in the region, integrating information from long-term ecological monitoring sites with approaches from social sciences and the humanities, and in cooperation with regional stakeholders. Based on the experiences gained in the Eisenwurzen LTSER platform, this article presents current activities in the heterogeneous field of LTSER, identifying specific (inter-)disciplinary contributions of three research strands of LTSER: long-term ecological research, socio-ecological basic research, and transdisciplinary research. Given the broad array of diverse contributions to LTSER, we argue that the platform has become a relevant "boundary organization," linking research to its regional non-academic context, and ensuring interdisciplinary exchange among the variety of disciplines. We consider the diversity of LTSER approaches an important resource for future research. Major success criteria of LTSER face specific challenges: (1) existing loose, yet stable networks need to be maintained and extended; (2) continuous generation of and access to relevant data needs to be secured and more data need to be included; and

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“…A good example of this process is the combination of a number of approaches and tools in the development of Eco-DRR, which combines conservation, management and restoration of ecosystems to reduce the risk of disaster . However, for these combination approaches to be effective in practice, they require clear definitions, parameters and methodologies to guide their application (Brandt et al, 2013).…”

Section: A Brief Comparison Of These Nbs Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6 For new concepts such as NbS to endure, there needs to be a clear and widely accepted understanding of the foundations on which they are established, including not only definitions and principles but also parameters and methodological frameworks to guide their application (Davis, 2008;Brandt et al, 2013). NbS still remains, for many, a general metaphor without sufficiently clear guidelines to enable effective operationalisation.…”

Section: The Need For An Operational Framework For Nbsmentioning

confidence: 99%