A transdisciplinary learning approach to foster convergence of design, science and deliberation in urban and regional planning

• Published in: Systems research and behavioral science 2005-05, Vol.22 (3), p.193-208
• Main Authors: Müller, Daniel B., Tjallingii, Sybrand P., Canters, Kees J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Action research; Area planning & development; Behavioural sciences; Cities; City planning; Co-design; communicative action; Community; Convergence; Cooperation; Design; Environmental studies; Interdisciplinary research; organizational learning; participatory action research; Regional planning; Science; Strategic planning; Studies; Sustainable development; Systems analysis; Systems theory; transdisciplinarity; Urban planning; Urban studies
• ISSN: 1092-7026; 1099-1743
• DOI: 10.1002/sres.655

In this paper we look at relationships between design, science and deliberation in urban and regional planning. Each of these activities can be used to inform policy, either in isolation or in different forms of combinations. The combinations usually involve hierarchies, which use the framework of one activity to integrate the others. Such hierarchies create an unbalance among the three activities, resulting in a competition for the integration monopoly, and therefore ineffective cooperation. There is a lack of theory that would allow us to combine these three activities in an equivalent way. Based on experiences in the Delft Interfaculty Research Program ‘The Ecological City’, we propose a transdisciplinary model, which conceives design, science and deliberation as learning processes that follow the same sequence of creative, descriptive and normative steps. From a learning perspective, design, science and deliberation are complementary and can therefore be integrated in a group learning process. The learning model assigns roles to the different activities and supports the planning team in establishing a common orientation and adapting the methods to a common goal. Applications have shown that the transdisciplinary learning model only works if the participants work with articulated methods, if the limitations of these methods are made explicit, and if the participants accept the superiority of common learning over disciplinary rigour, which involves all participants engaging in both an integrating and a serving role. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.