Transdisciplinarit y is a research methodology crossing several disciplinary boundaries, creating a holistic approach to solve complex problems. A transdisciplinary approach fosters bottom-up collaboration, provides an environment for mutual learning and enhances the knowledge of all participants (Klein et al., 2001 Summary and Synthesis). Transdisciplinarity is a relatively young term, first used just over fifty years ago at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) congress by Jean Piaget. Piaget’s 1972 essay describes it in a looser sense; as “a higher stage succeeding interdisciplinary relationships…without any firm boundaries between disciplines” (Piaget, 1972 p.135).

Transdisciplinarity goes beyond interdisciplinarity through a fusion of academic and non-academic knowledge, theory and practice, discipline and profession (Doucet and Janssens, 2011). Stokols (2006) asserts transdisciplinarity is inextricability linked to action research; a term coined by Lewin (1946) as comparative research leading to social action. Lewin sought to empower and enhance the self-esteem of participants, which included residents of minority communities, through horizontal and democratic exchange between the researcher and participants. Familiar devices rooted in action research, such as surveys, questionnaires, and interviews are common in transdisciplinary research (Klein et al., 2001). 

A transdisciplinary approach is broad and facilitates the provision of social need; and is therefore a useful tool in combination with community participation. This methodology has been used to address complex global concerns in recent decades, beginning with climate change and extending into many areas including policy and social problems (Bernstein, 2015). Lawrence et al. (2010) stress that in addressing community related issues such as housing, it is crucial a transdisciplinary approach is adopted not only to integrate various expert opinions but to ensure the inclusion of affected communities such as the residents themselves. Affordability and sustainability in housing is a complex social issue, therefore requiring such an approach to foster participation of non-academics to provide socially relevant solutions.

References

Bernstein, J. H. (2015) ‘Transdisciplinarity: A review of its origins, development, and current issues’, Journal of Research Practice, 11(1).

Doucet, I. and Janssens, N. (2011) Transdisciplinary Knowledge Production: Towards Hybrid Modes of Inquiry in Architecture and Urbanism. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-0104-5.

Klein, J. T. et al. (2001) Transdisciplinarity: Joint Problem Solving among Science, Technology, and Society An Effective Way for Managing Complexity. doi: 10.1007/978-3-0348-8419-8_2.

Lawrence, R. et al. (2010) ‘Beyond Disciplinary Confinement to Imaginative Transdisciplinarity’, in Tackling Wicked Problems Through the Transdisciplinary Imagination. London: Routledge, pp. 16–30.

Lewin, K. (1946) ‘Action Research and Minority Problems’, The Journal of Social Issues, 2(4), pp. 34–46. doi: 10.1037/10269-013.

Piaget, J. (1972) Interdisciplinarity: Problems of Teaching and Research in Universities. Available at: https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED061895.

Stokols, D. (2006) ‘Toward a Science of Transdisciplinary Action Research’, American journal of community psychology, 38, pp. 63–77. doi: 10.1007/s10464-006-9060-5.