Article: Urban research for sustainability: developing a comparative transdisciplinary co-production approach to realise just cities Journal: International Journal of Sustainable Development (IJSD) 2022 Vol.25 No.1/2 pp.78 - 94 Abstract: This paper engages with Manfred Max-Neef's approach to transdisciplinarity in relation to an innovative international cross-city research program. Given the inadequacies of conventional methods, fundamentally different approaches are required to meet the 'wicked problem' challenges of transition towards sustainable societies. Mistra Urban Futures, a Swedish-based research centre with multi-institutional partnerships in eight cities on four continents, designed a <i>co-produced comparative</i> research program to address the realisation of just cities through a typology enabling the comparison of urgent local priorities. This paper reflects on the approach and its relevance to Max-Neef's call for <i>understanding</i> as central to a transdisciplinary approach. Key findings include how understanding, together with the realisation of just cities, emerges intertwined as methodological outcomes. These outcomes also supported the processes, hence contributing to the discourses on transition and the methodologies of transdisciplinarity and comparative urban research. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Urban research for sustainability: developing a comparative transdisciplinary co-production approach to realise just cities

Authors: Henrietta Palmer; David Simon; Jan Riise

Addresses: School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden ' Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK ' Gothenburg Centre for Sustainable Development, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden

Abstract: This paper engages with Manfred Max-Neef's approach to transdisciplinarity in relation to an innovative international cross-city research program. Given the inadequacies of conventional methods, fundamentally different approaches are required to meet the 'wicked problem' challenges of transition towards sustainable societies. Mistra Urban Futures, a Swedish-based research centre with multi-institutional partnerships in eight cities on four continents, designed a co-produced comparative research program to address the realisation of just cities through a typology enabling the comparison of urgent local priorities. This paper reflects on the approach and its relevance to Max-Neef's call for understanding as central to a transdisciplinary approach. Key findings include how understanding, together with the realisation of just cities, emerges intertwined as methodological outcomes. These outcomes also supported the processes, hence contributing to the discourses on transition and the methodologies of transdisciplinarity and comparative urban research.

Keywords: transdisciplinarity; co-production; Manfred Max-Neef; Mistra Urban Futures; comparative urban research; realising just cities; RJC; urban justice; urban experiments; self-reflexive learning; multi-stakeholder partnerships.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSD.2022.126473

International Journal of Sustainable Development, 2022 Vol.25 No.1/2, pp.78 - 94

Received: 23 Jun 2021
Received in revised form: 10 Dec 2021
Accepted: 21 Apr 2022
Published online: 26 Oct 2022 *

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Title: Urban research for sustainability: developing a comparative transdisciplinary co-production approach to realise just cities

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