Tag: Governance

Ortwin Renn

Abstract (quote): “The need to cope with future challenges posed by major transformations such as digitalization and sustainable development has led to several approaches to establish new concepts and methods of science and research. Scientific studies are supposed to provide background knowledge, to facilitate the desired transformations towards a sustainable future and to help resolving complex problems that accompany societies in transition. Concepts such as transformative, transdisciplinary or co-creative approaches elucidate the direction in which scientific research strives for its new role(s).

Based on the discussion of these concepts and their different roots, the article proposes a modular concept for a transdisciplinary scientific approach combining and integrating curiosity driven research with goal oriented (advocacy) knowledge generation and catalytic, process-oriented expertise. This integration promises to address some of the deficits of the existing concepts and is particularly suitable for future studies comprising orientation, strategies and reflection for designing policies for transformations.”

Highlights (quote)

• • A thorough review of concepts and approaches for interdisciplinary research with an emphasis on European traditions.
  • An analysis of the merits, problems and shortcomings of these approaches.
  • A new approach based on the combination of curiosity-driven, goal-oriented and catalytic research concepts.
  • A brief case study illustrating the new approach.

Summary (quote)

“Policymaking for dealing with wicked and complex problems requires a robust knowledge base for the assessment of the likely consequences of each policy option and is based on balancing conflicting goals considering the diversity of interests, preferences and values of society. This requires a better integration of scientific expertise for informing policymaking, so that the relevant knowledge base can be used in the preparation of evidence-informed, socially acceptable and morally substantiated decisions.

The best way to inform policymaking is by implementing transdisciplinary research methods. Transdisciplinarity becomes manifest in the systematic integration of classic curiosity-driven research (disciplinary and interdisciplinary), goal-oriented strategic research (impact assessment of different options); and process-related catalytic research (deliberative integration of knowledge, values, interests, and preferences). The defining characteristics of transdisciplinarity, namely, the systematic perspective, the orientation on complex real-world problems and the inclusion of non-scientific knowledge, are inherent to this kind of research process (Despres et al., 2004: 472; Jahn et al., 2012: 8; Pohl, 2011: 619; Thompson Klein, 2013: 190; Zscheischler & Rogga, 2015: 29).

To meet these characteristics requires an organic synthesis of the three research concepts described in this article. The curiosity-driven concept brings in the systematic insights to make policy options effective, the goal-oriented concept develops strategies to achieve the desired objectives or to constructively address problems that need public attention, and the catalytic concept delivers the institutional architecture and communicative design necessary to successfully conduct a deliberative discourse between and among the various knowledge carriers and users of knowledge.

The synthesis of these three concepts into an integrative approach of building bridges between knowledge and collective action corresponds to the transdisciplinary mission of science. Transdisciplinary approaches integrate process-related, factual, and strategy-related knowledge and ideally lead to a problem resolution that is factually convincing, argumentatively consistent, morally substantiated, and, in principle, acceptable to all.”

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Bibliography

Renn, O.(2021). Transdisciplinarity: Synthesis towards a modular approach. Futures, Volume 130, 102744. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2021.102744

One of the crucial skills of public leaders and managers is to be able to get the bigger picture of society, and from there to connect things and to act accordingly. Mayors and city managers among others need to keep the main focus on the bigger picture, while aldermen and directors have their specific discipline, craftsmanship and portfolio.

Overview and content go hand in hand, both complementary pieces of the puzzle of public governance. Zooming out is a form of art, necessary to understand the city as an ecosystem. For this art, Alexander von Humboldt and Roelof A.A. Oldeman have been of great inspiration. The ability of zooming out is the essential skill for true knowledge, they say. Two quotes.

Naturalist, explorer and geographer Alexander von Humboldt (1856) concluded that zooming out leads to more overview and offers the possibility to interconnect things (and even sciences). Von Humboldt gave guidance on the relation between ecosystems and abiotic factors. At the beginning of the 19th century, he came to this fascinating conclusion, actually revolutionary for that time.

“Physical geography…, elevated to a higher point of view, … embraces the sphere of organic life…”. – Humboldt (1856).

He saw the connection between the life in the ecosystems and the constraints of soil, water, energy and climate. Nobody before him had done this. Also in cities these connections between in fact habitats and communities are all over the place. So we can learn here from the discoveries of Von Humboldt.

“The principle impulse by which I was directed was the earnest endeavour to comprehend the phenomena of physical objects in their general connection, and to represent nature as one great whole, moved and animated by internal forces. Without an earnest striving to attain to a knowledge of special branches of study, all attempts to give a grand and general view of the universe would be nothing more than vain illusion.” – Von Humboldt (1856)

Connection between sciences seems to be necessary to find the real answers. It is about the ability of sharpening one’s view from different angles and principles. Oldeman et al. (1990) underlined, in cross-border studies of forests, the need for such an holistic approach in diagnosis. He always encouraged, within the fragmented landscape of sciences, the necessity to cross the by individual universities so heavily guarded boundaries. For most of the city challenges, the process of policy making and service delivery needs to be based on a cross-border view, to come to well-founded decisions.

“The group that was responsible for the forest components theme decided to accelerate the process by starting an ambitious project, the writing of a common book. There is no way in which cooperation can be stimulated better, but this way has to be learned and practised too. The result is now before you. The book is not yet ideal in our opinion because it still contains too many traces of the old University tradition of researchers working, each apart, on such narrow subjects as they know best.

This way of executing the research of course is necessary to reach sufficient depth. But it carries the risk of loss of vision of the whole system, parts of which are studied. Still a little bit unbalanced, but on its way to improve along lines that are more clear now, this presentation in a pluridisciplinary way is a first step, however, to overcome both the limits of individual researchers and the shallowness of groups. We trust, however, that it is exactly this wrestling with integration of broad views versus the deepening of restricted views that may be as interesting to the reader as the facts, figures, conclusions and hypotheses on forests and their components which are presented in the following pages.” – Oldeman et al. (1990)

Von Humboldt and Oldeman are inspiring in this cross-scientific and pluridisciplinary discovery. Zooming out is crucial to get the picture.

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Bibliography
Humboldt, Alexander von (1856). Kosmos: A Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe, Volume 1. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers. 406 pp.

Oldeman, R.A.A., P. Schmidt and E.J.M. Arnolds (1990). Forest components. Wageningen: Aricultural University, 111 pp.

De organisatievorm van de toekomst

Patrick Kenis en Bart Cambré | 2019, Pelckmans

In onze veranderende wereld kunnen complexe problemen enkel aangepakt worden als organisaties samenwerken. Individuele organisaties zijn niet in staat om deze complexiteit het hoofd te bieden. Ze moeten hun expertise noodgedwongen verbinden aan die van andere en maken hierdoor steeds vaker deel uit van organisatienetwerken. In dit boek verkennen we de fascinerende wereld van organisatienetwerken. Hoe en waarom moeten we steeds vaker streven naar iets dat onze eigen organisatie overstijgt?

Op basis van de meest recente wetenschappelijke inzichten, die de auteurs vaak zelf verzameld hebben, komen alle belangrijke bouwstenen van organisatienetwerken aan bod. Wanneer moet je een organisatienetwerk oprichten en wanneer niet? Hoe doe je dat dan? Wat zijn de valkuilen en hoe kan je hiermee omgaan? Hoe evalueer je op een eenvoudige manier de werking van je organisatienetwerk?

Het vraagt kennis en kunde om organisatienetwerken te doen slagen. Dit boek biedt je via talrijke voorbeelden en begrijpelijke inzichten de mogelijkheid om ook jouw organisatienetwerk te bouwen en evalueren.

Bibliografie

Kenis, P. en Cambré, B. (2019) Organisatienetwerken: De organisatievorm van de toekomst. Kalmthout, België: Pelckmans.