In Search of Green Knowledge: A Cognitive Approach to Sustainable Development

1. In Search of Green Knowledge:A Cognitive Approach to Sustainable Development Andrew Jamison

2. Here’s where it started

3. ...and here’s where I moved

4. and this is what I think I have done ever since Change oriented research, also known as • advocacy, or partisan research • technology assessment and/or cultural assessment • action, or action-oriented research • participatory, or dialogic research • and, when it really has worked: collective learning

5. Change-Oriented Research • Problem-driven, rather then disciplinary driven • Intervention in ongoing process • Reflective, rather than explanatory ambition • Narrative form of presentation, ”telling stories” • Participatory, dialogue methods (e.g. focus groups) • Engagement, or involvement in what is studied

6. A Renewal of Phronesis • Aristotle’s third form of knowledge • beyond theoretical (episteme) and practical (techne) • a kind of ethical reason, or self-knowledge • competence in making judgments, in knowing what to do • knowledge always situated or localized

7. Roots in Pragmatism • American theory of knowledge • founded by Peirce, James, Dewey • a part of the ”progressive” movement • truth based in practice (justification) • science as problem solving (discovery)

8. and Action Research • outgrowth of ”old” social movements • related to urban reform and labor struggles • neighborhood, or factory focus • science as a form of social advocacy • ”making visible” and ”giving voice”

9. and Technology Assessment • outgrowth of student revolts and nuclear energy debates • focus on social and environmental consequences of technology • citizen-expert communication, or ”communicative rationality” (Habermas) • consensus conference model

10. and Participatory Rural Appraisal • a form of development research • focus on competence building • emphasis on popular participation • ”conscientization” (Friere) • ”putting people first” (Chambers)

11. A Cognitive Approach • Focus on knowledge in the making • Process, or practice orientation • Comparative, or contextual ambition • Dialectical method, identification of tensions

12. The Concept of Cognitive Praxis • connecting ideas and action, theory and practice • articulation of knowledge interests • movements as temporary collective learning sites • hybrid forms of agency: ”movement intellectuals”

13. Dimensions of cognitive praxis • The cosmological dimension: world-view assumptions, shared visions or values • The technological dimension: practical activities, forms of action and technical work • The organizational dimension: situational context, spaces of interaction and communication

14. The Cognitive Praxisof Environmental Movements • Cosmological dimension: systemic holism, ”limits to growth” • Technical dimension: appropriateness, ”small is beautiful” • Organizational dimension: collective learning sites, ”citizen science”

15. Phases of Environmentalism 1. awakening primarily local protests against pollution pre-1968 2. ”age of ecology”national organizational development 1969-1974 3. politicizationsocial movements in relation to energy policy 1975-1979 4. differentiation professionalization and party politics 1980-1986 5. internationalizationglobal orientation – network and alliance-building 1987-1993 6. IntegrationAgenda 21, sustainable development 1994-2000

16. Environmental Cognitive Praxis

17. Changing Regimes of Knowledge and Power Industrial Military Commercial “Little Science” “Big Science” “Technoscience” Before WWII 1940s-1970s 1980s- Type of Knowledge disciplinary multidisciplinary transdisciplinary Organiza- individuals or R&D departments ad hoc projects and tional form research groups and institutes networks Dominant values academic bureaucratic entrepreneurial

18. The Broader Context:Living in An Age of Technoscience • blurring discursive boundaries • between science (episteme) and technology (techne) • breaking down institutional borders • between public and private, economic and academic • mixing skills and knowledge • across disciplines and societal domains

19. From Science to Technoscience • change in range and scope: a plurality of sciences • market orientation, global reach • university-industry collaboration • the strategic state: foresight or “picking the winners”

20. Trandisciplinarity, or ”Mode 2” ”Knowledge which emerges from a particular context of application with its own distinct theoretical structures, research methods and modes of practice but which may not be locatable on the prevailing disciplinary map.” Michael Gibbons et al, The New Production of Knowledge. Sage: 1994, p168

21. Cognitive Differences Mode 1 Mode 2 cumulative discontinuous unified pluralist universal specific cooperative competitive objective constructive paradigmatic situated

22. From Science to Research • from doing experiments to doing business • product-oriented, or commercial research • from providing expertise to governing • project-oriented, or governance research • from enlightening to empowering • problem-oriented, or advocacy research

23. Contending Discourses • commercial research: hubris goes to market - globalization, competitiveness, innovation • governance research: controlling hubris - welfare, employment, equality, construction • advocacy research: the hybrid imagination • global justice, scientific citizenship, sustainability

24. Contending Institutions • commercial research - innovation networks, patent systems, markets • governance research - state agencies, regulations, policies, laws • advocacy research - civic organizations, public education, assessment

25. Contending Identities • commercial research - academic entrepeneurs, market researchers • governance research - expert consultants, policy researchers • advocacy research - activist academics, action researchers

26. Environmental Science, ala Mode 1 • Disciplinary identity: specialized subfields of biology and engineering • Academic theories: mostly about non-human ”nature” • Administrative applications: primarily related to state and municipal authorities

27. Environmental Science, ala Mode 2 • hybrid competencies: mixing of skills, theories, and politics • concepts of connectivity: systems, organizations, networks, participation • processes of mediation: between experts and citizens, North and South

28. Cultural Forms of Green Knowledge Residual Dominant Emerging Key siteslocal/national global hybrid networks Forms ofactionpopular commercial exemplary resistance facilitation mobilization Form of knowledgefactual/lay managerial situated Sources traditions, professional experience, of knowledge disciplines expertise examples

29. The Hybrid Imagination • At the discursive level • making connnections, integrating ideas • At the institutional level • creating contexts of mediation, hybrid forums • At the practical/personal level • fostering hybrid competencies and identities

30. Inter- or transdisciplinarity? Interdisciplinarity Transdisciplinarity integration of disciplines transcendence of disciplines (internal) problem-driven (external) project-driven ”bottom-up”, self-organized ”top-down”, formalized a dialogical rationality an instrumental rationality

31. Types of Interdisciplinarity • Collaboration • synthetic integration • a sharing of experience and identity • Cooperation • multidisciplinary teamwork • a process of collective learning

32. Types of Transdisciplinarity • Nondisciplinarity, or niche-seeking • a conceptual competence • theory, or technique-based identity • Subdisciplinarity, or specialization • a methodological competence • topic, or area-based identity

33. For example: STS • Science, Technology and Society • interdisciplinary education and research • bridging the ”two cultures” gap • Science and Technology Studies • transdisciplinary and heterogeneous field • related to growth of EU research programs

34. Science, Technology and Society • Collaboration • finalization, science dynamics, SCOT • technology assessment, science shops • Cooperation • European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) • educational exchanges and PhD networks

35. Science and Technology Studies • Nondisciplinarity, or niche-seeking • sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) • actor-network theory, technology foresight • Subdisciplinarity, or sectorial specialization • science and technology policy • innovation studies, knowledge management

36. For example: Environmental Studies • Environmental Science(s) • interdisciplinary centers and departments • internally-driven and often academic-oriented • Environmental Management • ”add-on” masters and doctoral programs • externally-driven and often market-oriented

37. Interdisciplinary Environmental Sciences • Collaboration • human ecology, social ecology • sustainability science, ecological economics • Cooperation • IBP, IPCC and other international programs • environmental science departments

38. Transdisciplinary Environmental Management • Nondisciplinarity • Urban sustainable development • Eco-efficiency, life cycle analysis • Subdisciplinarity • Environmental chemistry, history • Energy planning, sociology of risk

39. The Bauhaus... vs The Matrix "art and technology – a new unity” The technification of culture