he ISC-led research funding programme “Leading Integrated
Research for Agenda 2030 in Africa” (LIRA 2030 Africa) took a distinctive
approach to researching urban challenges to sustainability
through transdisciplinary, and in this blog, we seek to synthesize the key benefits
that transdisciplinary approach provided to the LIRA projects.
With the fastest
Urbanization rates in the world, African cities are at the
front line of global development, and given that the bulk this urbanization
has not yet taken place, African cities have an unprecedented opportunity
to shape their urban futures in an inclusive, sustainable and resilient manner.
In this context,
science will need to be capacitated to play a much more active role in navigating urban complexity and in engaging with urban transformation. This will require novel methods of knowledge production which acknowledge the complexity, uncertainty and contested nature of urban sustainability challenges. Therefore, the LIRA programme promoted a distinctive transdisciplinary (TD) approach to whatsapp data researching urban challenges to sustainability.
As the recent
LIRA learning study revealed, the TD approach allowed if you want the user to leave to grasp the complexity and include diverse scientific and societal views of the issues. The main benefit of transdisciplinarity included a aub directory better understanding of community needs and sharpened research focus, generating research with impact.
Transdisciplinarity to foster trust and communities’ agency
As such, one of the most common sentiments expressed by projects was that TD research provided an important opportunity for stakeholders – policy-makers, civil society, practitioners and academia – to sit and learn together in non-formal interactions on common societal goals. These fora for critical discourse and knowledge co-production created links between society and science, helping to break prevailing patterns of working in silos and fostering learning across disciplines, sectors, institutions and cities.
“LIRA made a difference in that it helped address a major criticism of Universities – thus, a disconnect between Universities and policy makers/communities. LIRA helped me meet my community service role, a major pillar of Universities. Universities have a tripartite mandate – teaching, research and community service. LIRA helped me in the third category.”
For example,
A Cape Town project created a collaborative learning
platform UrbanBetter which seeks to foster shared learning, knowledge exchange,
and public engagement, connecting and mobilizing individuals, communities, and organizations
for healthy, sustainable urban environments.
Another LIRA project in Accra resulted in the creation of a Water-Energy-Food
(WEF) Nexus Forum, which became a platform for continuous engagement of
the different stakeholders involved in the management of these crucial resources in the city.
