Transdisciplinary case studies for sustainability learning

Citation

Posch, A. and Scholz, R.W. (2006), "Transdisciplinary case studies for sustainability learning", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 7 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijshe.2006.24907caa.001

Transdisciplinary case studies for sustainability learning

Transdisciplinary case studies for sustainability learning

In fact, there is a broad consensus that teaching and education is a main driving force for change towards sustainable development. Last year even the UN started its Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), and in general in teaching great attention is paid to sustainable development at all levels of education. However, it needs to be stated that teaching for sustainable development definitely involves more than just addressing environmental and development issues. Sustainability learning, comprising individual, organizational and societal learning with respect to sustainable action or behavior (Scholz et al., 1998b; Kallstrom and Ljung, 2005), means developing competencies for dealing with highly complex, ill-defined problems.

Teachers have to recognize that they are no longer in the position of simply determining and passing on a fixed stock of knowledge to passive students. Hence, teaching for sustainable development requires new ways of approaching sustainability-oriented, real world problems, i.e. new ways of organizing the interaction between practitioners, students, and teachers in order to enable all actors to mutually learn from each other how to handle such problems.

In this respect, transdisciplinary case studies for sustainable development are on the way to becoming an established part of research and education at European universities. The first transdisciplinary case study was undertaken at the Institute of Human-Environment Systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH-UNS) in 1994. In the meantime Austrian, German, Swedish, and Swiss universities have also conducted an impressive set of such studies. All these studies combine research, teaching, and practical application in an innovative manner. The experience gained in these studies is documented in an impressive set of case study books (Bedall et al., 2005; Glanzer et al., 2005; Hedin et al., 2004; Koucky et al., 2005; Lock et al., 2004; Mieg et al., 2001; Posch et al., 2005; Scholz et al., 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998a, b, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004a, b, 2005). A further step towards international community building was taken with conducting a symposium on “Transdisciplinary Case Study Research for Sustainable Development Symposium” within the recent “International Sustainable Development Research Conference”[1]. The three-days symposium included more than 20 regular presentations, keynotes and round tables on transdisciplinary research bringing together an international and interdisciplinary audience.

We want to note that the concept of transdisciplinarity as it is used in these case studies differs from interdisciplinarity. Interdisciplinarity (in a strong sense) can be defined as a fusion of concepts or methods that are taken from different disciplines. In contrast, from a science perspective, transdisciplinarity implies the integration of values and knowledge from society into the production of scientific knowledge (Scholz et al., 2000). In the above-mentioned studies, mutual learning processes between science and society are the focus of deliberate, sustained organization (Gibbons et al., 1994; Thompson-Klein et al., 2000). In some respects, these studies turn traditional approaches of research and teaching upside down. Being dedicated to the sustainable transformation of regional, urban or organizational systems, the case studies always start from a complex, societal relevant, real world problem. The research strategy of these case studies entails a joint problem definition, problem representation, problems solution, and problem transformation by scientists and practitioners. The major challenge lies in filtering out the most suitable pieces of research from the whole body of scientific knowledge and making them accessible in an appropriate and efficient way (Wiek et al., n.d.). Given that most of the mature scientists are highly averse to such a strategy, introducing transdisciplinarity into the university classroom can become a highly delicate affair.

This volume of IJSHE offers seven scientific papers from teachers and/or researchers that have gained experience with transdisciplinary case studies as a means of organizing sustainability learning at university level. The authors are also members of the “International Transdisciplinary Net on Case Studies for Sustainable Development” (ITdNet) which was initiated by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) in 2002. This network of major European and American scholars aims to promote societal learning processes for sustainable development.

In the paper by Scholz et al. a short overview of the historical roots of the case studies is provided. Based on their long experience of case study teaching at the ETH Zurich, the authors emphasise that an adequate scientific approach is an essential success factor and that the epistemological nature of the various problems dealt with in the transdisciplinary case study needs to be made clear from the outset. Further, a proper set of methods and procedures has to be planned and applied. This includes, e.g. specific methods for goal specification, system analysis, scenario construction, multi-criteria assessment, and generation of action orientations.

Stauffacher et al. emphasise that it is most crucial in transdisciplinary case studies to organize well-planned goal oriented interaction between all participants. Especially the interaction between students and practitioners has a high potential in motivating students towards self-regulated learning processes. Teachers need to set up the organizational framework that allows for a joint problem solving process between all case study participants, i.e. students, teachers/researchers, and practitioners.

Posch and Steiner provide some empirical data concerning the need of transdisciplinarity in case study research and teaching. Further, they describe their experiences with a large-scale case study conducted at the University of Graz. It becomes obvious that this kind of teaching project not only leads to problem-based learning situations for students, but also that inter- and transdisciplinary case studies are challenging and promising opportunities to integrate research and teaching in higher education.

Muhar et al. describe their experience of initiating transdisciplinarity in academic case study teaching with special reference to regional planning. Referring to the case study “Life 2014 – perspectives for integrated regional development in the national park region Hohe Tauern in Salzburg, Austria” they point out the special importance of well structured communication and networking as well as the necessity of defining general rules of collaboration.

Sustainability related problems often require risk assessment and management. Hence, Menoni introduces in her paper a transdisciplinary approach to tackling risk issues related to natural and technological hazards in higher educational programs for environmental engineers and planners. She emphasizes the importance of a transdisciplinary approach in combining analytical knowledge and systems understanding with the practical observations, perceptions and experience of the people exposed to risk in a given area.

The paper by Steiner and Laws is a guide through all the heterogeneous approaches of case study work described in the literature. After a categorization and critical assessment of the approaches they compare the written Harvard case study approach with the transdisciplinary ETH Zurich case study approach. Although they evaluate, they do not rank. Instead they emphasise the importance of being aware of which approach is most suitable und which circumstances and for what objectives.

Finally, Mieg analyses the transdisciplinary case study approach form the point of view of the psychology of expertise and the sociology of professions. It is claimed that practitioners, i.e. residents of the region under investigation, provide important information on the local human-environmental system and thus have to be regarded as system experts. Decision-making experts run into problems integrating other professionals into transdisciplinary projects and should, therefore, professionalize themselves.

Alfred PoschInstitute of Innovation and Environmental Management, University of Graz, Graz, Austria

Roland W. ScholzDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Human-Environment Systems, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland

Note1. This symposium was organized in June 2005 in Helsinki by the Transdisciplinary Case Study Research Group, ETH Zurich (www.uns.ethz.ch/networks/tcsr).