Vocabulary
Terms and definitions on affordable and sustainable housing *
Transdisciplinarity
Area: Community participation
“Transdisciplinarity is perhaps above all a new way of thinking about, and engaging in, inquiry”.(Montuori, 2008, p.ix)
Transdisciplinary research (TR) today is focused on designing and implementing solutions to emerging ‘real-world’ (Segalàs & Tejedor, 2013), complex [1] issues, such as social inequalities, poverty and hunger, climate change, ecosystem destruction and exhaustion of natural resources etc. Such issues are referred to as ‘wicked problems’ (Brown et al., 2010), as they defy complete definition and cannot be solved using existing modes of inquiry and decision making (Bernstein, 2015), but rather need creative solutions and approaches.
TR attempts a new model of knowledge-production, involving work that creatively re-imagines the disciplines and the possibilities for combining them (Castán Broto et al., 2002). In studying simultaneously what is between, across, and beyond disciplines (McGregor, 2015), it exceeds the boundaries of academic community and relies on stakeholder involvement, hence on the interconnections between the academy, industry, governments, and non-governmental organizations (Bernstein, 2015), leading to an engaged, socially responsible science.
TR prioritises collaborative problem-oriented research for the ‘common good’ (Klein, 2013) [2]. In extension, it fundamentally transcends the dichotomy between objective and subjective viewpoints, as well as redefines the role of the researcher-expert and the subject of research within the research process. In bringing in the subjects of research participating in the research on an equal footing with the investigators, sharing the creation of the work, it not only creates a dialogue between minority and majority cultures (Bernstein, 2015), but also produces more accurate, representative and informed research outputs and solutions.
Alluded to above and understanding that TR work is an open-ended learning process without predetermined outcomes (Pohl et al., 2021), an essential characteristic of TR is the creative, imaginative and lateral thinking of solutions, but most importantly of combinations of factors, tools and methods. This requires the engagement with new modes of thinking and practicing, incorporating new technologies and fields of investigation. In other words, it requires the abandoning of one’s intellectual comfort zone, in which process “we can see the potential for frustration and pain as well as for the exhilaration that comes from seeing things in a new way” (Bernstein, 2015, p.11).
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[1] In a complex system, the individual components interact with each other and with their environment in such a way that the system as a whole cannot be explained in terms of its parts.
[2] This definition lies at the heart of the Swiss-based Transdisciplinarity Net (td-net) (http://www.transdisciplinarity.ch/e/index.php) (Klein, 2013).
Created on 30-07-2021
Read more ->Area: Policy and financing
One general way of defining transdisciplinarity could be as interactions between scientists of different disciplines and representatives of different stakeholder groups in order to interlink context specific, but different, insights, interests and values (Agramont et al, 2019).
While there are many other definitions available, the key problem lies in evaluating the result of a transdisciplinary study, mainly because it is a newly emerged discipline and there are no universally recognised criteria for evaluation. Carew and Wickson (2010) present a tool called “Transdisciplinary Wheel” (TDW) to assist researchers engaged in so-called 'messy-problems' such as homelessness, using a transdisciplinary approach. The wheel suggests interrelation between the context, process and product of the research and provides a flexible support to visualise the research process.
According to a report (The group of specialists, 2008) published by the Council of Europe, vulnerable groups cannot be defined without specific contextual and historical elements, they do however include immigrants, unemployed, victims of wars and disasters, frail and elderly etc., and for them, homelessness presents one of the major housing problems.
In cases where certain vulnerable groups have lacked the capacity to organise themselves in seeking their rights or improving their position, the importance of civil society organisations has been significant. When public institutions could not have addressed problems and meet certain needs for vulnerable groups, the service is usually catered by different stakeholders, among them advocacy civil society organisations (Bežovan et al., 2016), and they could bring great value for the transdisciplinary research approach.
One real-life example is the project currently being conducted in Los Angeles, USA, where a transdisciplinary approach is implemented to find faster and easier solutions for homeless people and integrate them across the system (Lipinski, 2020). Homeless people in Los Angeles, along with the lack of shelter and a safe place to conduct basic human activities, face racial inequality. Stakeholders such as community-based organisations, policy experts, psychiatrists, biobehavioral scientists and academia, together with ad-hoc groups of people experiencing homelesness, apply computer and social work science to implement artificial intelligence and machine learning to find ways that may help homeless people.
This example explains the definition of a transdisciplinary approach by showing the collaboration of different academic and non-academic experts that innovatively employed their expertise from computer and social science for the benefit of social service in real life application.
Created on 08-09-2021
Read more ->Area: Community participation
Transdisciplinarity 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, who described it in a broader 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 & 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 transdisciplinarity approach has been used to address complex global concerns in recent decades, beginning with climate change and extending into many areas including socio-political 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. Housing is a complex social issue, therefore requiring such an approach to foster participation of non-academics to provide socially relevant solutions. Salama (2011) advocates for the use of transdisciplinarity in the creation of affordable and sustainable housing, which is often restricted by stakeholders working in silos, the oversimplification of housing-related issues, and a disconnect from local communities.
Created on 05-07-2022
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* This vocabulary consists of definitions of key terms related to the combined research conducted by the 15 early-stage researchers. Each term has multiple definitions, each connected to one of the three main research areas: Design, Construction and Planning; Community Involvement; and Policy and Funding.
The joint construction of this vocabulary allows the researchers' projects to be interwoven. As such, the vocabulary is a tool for conducting transdisciplinary research on affordable and sustainable housing.
Entries are reviewed by RE-DWELL researchers and supervisors. The vocabulary is updated regularly.