Transdisciplinary perspectives on environment and communication have been addressed in our recently published, edited volume via cases on aspects of environmental and societal sustainability in city planning, soil fertility, education, water governance, biosecurity, and other settings. The authors employ different theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches, but they reveal common challenges - wicked problems that evade simple definition and resist conventional modes of problem solving. Essentially, these cases involve complex socio-technical-environmental systems where biological life and political life are intertwined through the interaction of multiple physical elements, a variety of actors, and different bodies of information, knowledge systems, life experiences, and beliefs. While not placing a sole emphasis on transdisciplinary communication itself, each case study raises several obstacles and opportunities that practitioners and researchers face in communicating effectively within their given setting. Consistent with the transdisciplinary focus, the volume's selections were written and edited to argue their case to readers outside the core disciplines of the authors. A synthesizing chapter by the editors identifies an emerging pattern in the pieces, consisting of elements of transdisciplinary practice.
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/72F3GQ4258
List of Contributions (citations are for the chapter's original publication in a special issue of the MDPI journal, Sustainability):
- Abraham, S. Your Sustainability Is Not My Sustainability: In-between Spaces for Meaningful Collaboration between Local Stakeholders and Planning Professionals to Construct Congruent Frames over Contested Meanings. Sustainability 2023, 15, 4179.
- Criscuolo, L.; Bordogna, G.; Barbara, L.; Benessia, A.; Bergami, C.; Calastri, E.; Capocefalo, V.; Caretto, A.; Cavallo, C.; Chakraborty, A.; et al. Developing a Participatory Process for Soil Fertility: A Case Study in an Urban Area of Italy.Sustainability 2024, 16, 4882.
- Fernando, F.; Maloney, M.; Tappel, L. Perceptions of Urban Community Resilience: Beyond Disaster Recovery in the Face of Climate Change. Sustainability 2023, 15, 4543.
- Gelmez Burakgazi, S.; Reiss, M. Perceptions of Sustainability among Children and Teachers: Problems Revealed via the Lenses of Science Communication and Transformative Learning. Sustainability 2024, 16, 4742.
- Hartmann, E.; Geneuss, K.; Hoppe, I. Dialogue and Disruption at the Doorstep: Participant Perceptions during a City Walk as a Climate Communication Format.Sustainability 2024, 16, 4490.
- Kim, E.; Hara, N. Identifying Different Semantic Features of Public Engagement with Climate Change NGOs Using Semantic Network Analysis. Sustainability 2024, 16, 1438.
- McEntee, M.; Thomas, K.; Mullen, M.; Houghton, C.; Harvey, M.; Craig-Smith, A. Addressing Epistemic Injustice: Engaging Children as Environmental Communicators to Support the Long-Term Sustainability of Forest Ecosystems. Sustainability 2024, 16, 3124.
- Mah, A.; Song, E. Elite Speech about Climate Change: Analysis of Sentiment from the United Nations Conference of Parties, 1995–2021. Sustainability 2024, 16, 2779.
- Tatar, B. Advocacy, Ecotourism, and Biopolitics of Whale Conservation in Ecuador.Sustainability 2023, 15, 1608.
- Whitley, H. Exogenous, Endogenous, and Peripheral Actors: A Situational Analysis of Stakeholder Inclusion within Transboundary Water Governance. Sustainability 2024, 16, 3647.
- Féaux de la Croix, J.; Samakov, A. Moving beyond the Framing Impasse in the Aral Sea Delta: Vernacular Knowledge of Salinization and Its Potential for Social Learning towards Sustainability. Sustainability 2024, 16, 8605.
- Spurr, S.; Carrasco, S. Architecture for Complexity: Speculative Design as Enabler of Engagement in Co-Designing Post-Mining Futures in the Hunter Valley.Sustainability 2024, 16, 6842.
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Robert Perey
Dr
University of Technology, Sydney
Redfern
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