Addressing the Complexities of Boundary Work in Sustainability Science through Communication

Abstract

Sustainability science seeks to identify and implement workable solutions to complex problems. This transdisciplinary approach advances a commitment to work across boundaries that occur among individuals, disciplines, and institutions to build capacities for informed and innovative decision making in the face of uncertainty and change. The concept of boundary work and related discussions of boundary objects and organizations are important, expanding focal areas within sustainability science. While communication is described as central to boundary work, insights from the field of communication have largely yet to inform theorizing about boundaries within sustainability science. In this paper, we highlight three communication perspectives, namely media studies, collaboration and partnerships, and systems theories, which are particularly relevant for understanding how boundaries form, the social context in which boundary work occurs, and informed strategies for enhanced boundary spanning and management. We use three case studies to illustrate how communication theories and methods provide dynamic and strategic lenses within transdisciplinary processes to enable collaborators to build capacity for change, sustain critical and reflective inquiry, and approach difference as generative in collective efforts to produce sustainability. OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2013, 5 4196

Boundary Bridging Arrangements: A Boundary Work Approach to Local Energy Transitions

“…As these actors differ in their overall objectives, incorporate unlike values, interpret their environment in a dissimilar manner, communicate in distinct professional jargons, and organize their activities along different structures, they may face problems in collaboration and coordination (cf. [31,32]). Boundary bridging arrangements respond to this governance-problem: evolving governance structures in the form of shared grounds and/or reference points, they help local actors from heterogeneous backgrounds exchange knowledge and coordinate their activities.…”

“…In addition, in the context of sustainability, research thus far has been mostly restricted to science-politics-interfaces [31] and ( [32], p. 4196). As local energy transition processes involve an array of social worlds (cf.…”

“…Boundary objects bridge the boundaries between different social worlds [35]: being positioned between these worlds, they constitute joint reference points that allow for communication across boundaries ( [32], p. 4199). The concept was originally developed by Star and Griesemer [35] in a study about the boundary work at Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology.…”

Communication and sustainability science teams as complex systems

“…Previous communication studies have focused on processes, structures, and outcomes associated with interdisciplinary teams (Thompson 2007, Fraser and Schalley 2009, McGreavy et al 2013. Different types of interactions influence how objectives are achieved and the quality of interpersonal relationships (Thompson 2009).…”

Cocitation or Capacity-Building? Defining Success within an Interdisciplinary, Sustainability Science Team

“…Scholars in the "science of team science" field, for example, have developed conceptual frameworks, establishing classifications of contextual influences that serve as indicators of the success of collaborative endeavors as well as practical parameters to measure team process and integration (Stokols et al, 2003;Wagner et al, 2011;Armstrong and Jackson-Smith, 2013). Likewise, literature from the field of communication has focused on processes, structures, and outcomes associated with interdisciplinary teams (Thompson, 2007(Thompson, , 2009Fraser and Schalley, 2009;McGreavy et al, 2013McGreavy et al, , 2015. Taking a systems approach, these researchers assess how patterns of interaction can influence the success of these teams, identifying patterns of communication behavior and the quality of interpersonal relationships that affect how group goals are accomplished (Thompson, 2009;McGreavy et al, 2015).…”