TY - JOUR
T1 - Promoting agency for social-ecological transformation
T2 - A transformation-lab in the Xochimilco social-ecological system
AU - Charli-Joseph, Lakshmi
AU - Siqueiros-Garcia, J. Mario
AU - Eakin, Hallie
AU - Manuel-Navarrete, David
AU - Shelton, Rebecca
N1 - Funding Information:
work is based on research supported in part by the Transformations to Sustainability programme, which is coordinated by the
Funding Information:
We greatly appreciate and thank all the Xochimilco T-lab participants for their valuable time, effort, and interest in sharing their experiences and knowledge throughout the process. We acknowledge the work of the following students: Patricia Pérez-Belmont for developing the Q method analysis; Beatriz Ruizpalacios for support in logistics, data gathering, and design of the T-lab process; and Yutzil Castán for support in data organization and analysis. We also thank Rodrigo García-Herrera, academic technician at LANCIS-IE-UNAM, for writing the programs to upload the databases and generate the hiveplot (https:// github.com/sostenibilidad-unam/tlabs/tree/master/hiveplot). This work is based on research supported in part by the Transformations to Sustainability programme, which is coordinated by the International Social Science Council and funded by the Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and implemented in partnership with the National Research Foundation of South Africa. The Transformations to Sustainability Programme represents a contribution to Future Earth. This study has been developed in the North America Sustainability Hub, hosted by Arizona State University (ASU) working in partnership with the National Laboratory for Sustainability Sciences (LANCIS), housed at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). It is part of the STEPS Pathways to Sustainability Global Consortium (https://steps-centre.org/global/). This work was supported by the project PAPIIT-DGAPA-UNAM IA301117, and the material is also based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant 1414052, CNH: The Dynamics of Multi-Scalar Adaptation in Megacities (PI H. Eakin). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. We also acknowledge the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) for supporting the MEGADAPT project: Collaborative Research Network-CRN3: “Coping with hydrological risk in megacities: Collaborative planning framework for the Mexico City Metropolitan Area” (Project CNR3108; http://www.iai.int/? page_id=2031). Finally, the first author extends acknowledgment to the PhD Program in Sustainability Sciences, UNAM “Doctorado en Ciencias de la Sostenibilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.”.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 by the author(s).
PY - 2018/6
Y1 - 2018/6
N2 - Experiments to create spaces for social-ecological transformation are multiplying. These experiments aim at transcending traditional spaces for rational deliberation, planning, and participatory decision-making. We present a methodological approach for triggering the emergence of “transformation laboratories” (T-labs), which are participatory spaces where new agency is activated in relation to a stagnant sustainability challenge to generate intentional bottom-up transformations. We applied a set of participatory research tools to elicit current perceptions and foster personal involvement in transforming the ongoing urbanization of a culturally and ecologically significant historical wetland in Mexico City. Given that the emergence of T-labs as genuine bottom-up transformative spaces involves changes at multiple levels (individual, collective, and social-ecological), our approach was designed to promote a safe space that stimulates openness and personal interaction. We posit that through enabling participants to reformulate their connections to the system, to others in the system, and to themselves, the system may be transformed from the inside out. We argue that transformation, in this sense, is essentially about how changes in perception about one’s own role in the system’s dynamics translate into changes in agency. Our T-lab brought in 19 agents involved in the use and management of the Xochimilco urban wetland. Through a set of research tools, we elicited and presented information that helped agents to see their social-ecological position and role and to identify the practices they share with others within specific social networks and spaces of action. We argue that the process of collaboration initiated by our application of these tools and communication of their results are key for advancing initiatives that seek to create conditions for endogenous transformations.
AB - Experiments to create spaces for social-ecological transformation are multiplying. These experiments aim at transcending traditional spaces for rational deliberation, planning, and participatory decision-making. We present a methodological approach for triggering the emergence of “transformation laboratories” (T-labs), which are participatory spaces where new agency is activated in relation to a stagnant sustainability challenge to generate intentional bottom-up transformations. We applied a set of participatory research tools to elicit current perceptions and foster personal involvement in transforming the ongoing urbanization of a culturally and ecologically significant historical wetland in Mexico City. Given that the emergence of T-labs as genuine bottom-up transformative spaces involves changes at multiple levels (individual, collective, and social-ecological), our approach was designed to promote a safe space that stimulates openness and personal interaction. We posit that through enabling participants to reformulate their connections to the system, to others in the system, and to themselves, the system may be transformed from the inside out. We argue that transformation, in this sense, is essentially about how changes in perception about one’s own role in the system’s dynamics translate into changes in agency. Our T-lab brought in 19 agents involved in the use and management of the Xochimilco urban wetland. Through a set of research tools, we elicited and presented information that helped agents to see their social-ecological position and role and to identify the practices they share with others within specific social networks and spaces of action. We argue that the process of collaboration initiated by our application of these tools and communication of their results are key for advancing initiatives that seek to create conditions for endogenous transformations.
KW - Agency
KW - Mexico
KW - Social-ecological systems
KW - Sustainability
KW - Transformation
KW - Transformative space
KW - Urbanization
KW - Xochimilco
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85049641224&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5751/ES-10214-230246
DO - 10.5751/ES-10214-230246
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85049641224
SN - 1708-3087
VL - 23
JO - Ecology and Society
JF - Ecology and Society
IS - 2
M1 - 46
ER -