TY - JOUR
T1 - Transformative spaces in the making
T2 - key lessons from nine cases in the Global South
AU - Pereira, Laura
AU - Frantzeskaki, Niki
AU - Hebinck, Aniek
AU - Charli-Joseph, Lakshmi
AU - Drimie, Scott
AU - Dyer, Michelle
AU - Eakin, Hallie
AU - Galafassi, Diego
AU - Karpouzoglou, Timos
AU - Marshall, Fiona
AU - Moore, Michele Lee
AU - Olsson, Per
AU - Siqueiros-García, J. Mario
AU - van Zwanenberg, Patrick
AU - Vervoort, Joost M.
N1 - Funding Information:
Open access funding provided by Stockholm University. We are thankful to all contributors of the special feature, for sharing their insight knowledge to further improve and enrich the conceptualization of transformative spaces, for dedicating their time in a series of workshops, for their participation in the Resilience Conference 2017 in Stockholm, Sweden and above all for their dedication in transformative, transdisciplinary research. Drs. Pereira, Moore, and Olsson would like to acknowledge the contribution of the SIDA-funded GRAID (Guidance for Resilience in the Anthropocene: Investments for Development) project for funding their contribution to the programme, as well as the workshop hosted in Cape Town in 2016. Part of this research was conducted under the TRANSMANGO project, granted by the EU under 7th Framework Program, theme KBBE.2013.2.5-01 (Assessment of the impact of global drivers of change on Europe’s food security), Grant agreement no. 613532. This work is also partly based on a research project supported by the Transformations to Sustainability Programme, which is coordinated by the International Science Council (ISC), funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and implemented in partnership with the National Research Foundation of South Africa.
Funding Information:
Open access funding provided by Stockholm University. We are thankful to all contributors of the special feature, for sharing their insight knowledge to further improve and enrich the conceptualization of transformative spaces, for dedicating their time in a series of workshops, for their participation in the Resilience Conference 2017 in Stockholm, Sweden and above all for their dedication in transformative, transdisciplinary research. Drs. Pereira, Moore, and Olsson would like to acknowledge the contribution of the SIDA-funded GRAID (Guidance for Resilience in the Anthropocene: Investments for Development) project for funding their contribution to the programme, as well as the workshop hosted in Cape Town in 2016. Part of this research was conducted under the TRANSMANGO project, granted by the EU under 7th Framework Program, theme KBBE.2013.2.5-01 (Assessment of the impact of global drivers of change on Europe?s food security), Grant agreement no. 613532. This work is also partly based on a research project supported by the Transformations to Sustainability Programme, which is coordinated by the International Science Council (ISC), funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and implemented in partnership with the National Research Foundation of South Africa.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, The Author(s).
PY - 2020/1/1
Y1 - 2020/1/1
N2 - Creating a just and sustainable planet will require not only small changes, but also systemic transformations in how humans relate to the planet and to each other, i.e., social–ecological transformations. We suggest there is a need for collaborative environments where experimentation with new configurations of social–ecological systems can occur, and we refer to these as transformative spaces. In this paper, we seek a better understanding of how to design and enable the creation of transformative spaces in a development context. We analyse nine case studies from a previous special issue on Designing Transformative Spaces that aimed to collect examples of cutting-edge action-oriented research on transformations from the Global South. The analysis showed five design phases as being essential: Problem Definition Phase; Operationalisation Phase; Tactical Phase; Outcome Phase; and Reflection Phase. From this synthesis, we distilled five key messages that should be considered when designing research, including: (a) there are ethical dilemmas associated with creating a transformative space in a system; (b) it is important to assess the readiness of the system for change before engaging in it; (c) there is a need to balance between ‘safe’ and ‘safe-enough’ spaces for transformation; (d) convening a transformative space requires an assemblage of diverse methodological frameworks and tools; and (e) transformative spaces can act as a starting point for institutionalising transformative change. Many researchers are now engaging in transdisciplinary transformations research, and are finding themselves at the knowledge–action interface contributing to transformative space-making. We hope that by analysing experiences from across different geographies we can contribute towards better understanding of how to navigate the processes needed for the urgent global transformations that are being called for to create a more equitable and sustainable planet Earth.
AB - Creating a just and sustainable planet will require not only small changes, but also systemic transformations in how humans relate to the planet and to each other, i.e., social–ecological transformations. We suggest there is a need for collaborative environments where experimentation with new configurations of social–ecological systems can occur, and we refer to these as transformative spaces. In this paper, we seek a better understanding of how to design and enable the creation of transformative spaces in a development context. We analyse nine case studies from a previous special issue on Designing Transformative Spaces that aimed to collect examples of cutting-edge action-oriented research on transformations from the Global South. The analysis showed five design phases as being essential: Problem Definition Phase; Operationalisation Phase; Tactical Phase; Outcome Phase; and Reflection Phase. From this synthesis, we distilled five key messages that should be considered when designing research, including: (a) there are ethical dilemmas associated with creating a transformative space in a system; (b) it is important to assess the readiness of the system for change before engaging in it; (c) there is a need to balance between ‘safe’ and ‘safe-enough’ spaces for transformation; (d) convening a transformative space requires an assemblage of diverse methodological frameworks and tools; and (e) transformative spaces can act as a starting point for institutionalising transformative change. Many researchers are now engaging in transdisciplinary transformations research, and are finding themselves at the knowledge–action interface contributing to transformative space-making. We hope that by analysing experiences from across different geographies we can contribute towards better understanding of how to navigate the processes needed for the urgent global transformations that are being called for to create a more equitable and sustainable planet Earth.
KW - Co-production
KW - Facilitation
KW - Global South
KW - Sustainability
KW - Transdiciplinarity
KW - Transformation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85075173252&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85075173252&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11625-019-00749-x
DO - 10.1007/s11625-019-00749-x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85075173252
SN - 1862-4065
VL - 15
SP - 161
EP - 178
JO - Sustainability Science
JF - Sustainability Science
IS - 1
ER -