Abstract
The chapter reviews changes in the relationship between science and practice in sustainable development. Such changes suggest that both knowledge processes and practices are insufficiently reflected in disciplinary knowledge cultures: production, dissemination, transfer, exchange, bridging, integration, synthesis, sharing of knowledge, and collective learning. Knowledge application is modified through new forms of communication and action where conventional knowledge transfer from science to policy via new technologies is replaced through bidirectional communication and knowledge sharing. The conclusion demonstrates that sustainable development must be renewed through the application of new tools and knowledge practices through which complex problems in the sustainability transformation can be resolved.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Arden, L., & Bement, A. L. (2007). Transformative Research: The Artistry and Alchemy of the 21st Century. USA: National Science Foundation. Retrieved March 10, 2020, from https://www.nsf.gov/news/speeches/bement/07/alb070104_texas.jsp.
Argote, L., & Ingram, P. (2000). Knowledge Transfer: A Basis for Competitive Advantage in Firms. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 82(1), 150–169.
Asara, V., Otero, I., Demaria, F., & Corbera, E. (2015). Socially Sustainable Degrowth as a Social Ecological Transformation: Repoliticizing Sustainability. Sustainability Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-015-0321-9.
Barbier, E. (Ed.). (1993). Economics and Ecology: New Frontiers and Sustainable Development. London et al.: Chapman & Hall.
Brown, H. S. (2012). Sustainability Science Needs to Include Sustainable Consumption. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 54(1), 20–25.
Bruckmeier, K. (2009). Sustainability Between Necessity, Contingency and Impossibility. Sustainability, 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10x000x.
Bucchi, M., & Trench, B. (Eds.). (2014). Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology (2nd ed.). London and New York: Routledge.
Cafaro, P. (2001). Thoreau, Leopold, and Carson: Toward an Environmental Virtue Ethics. Environmental Ethics, 23(1), 3–17.
Chadwick, R., & Schroeder, D. (Eds.). (2001). Applied Ethics: Critical Concepts in Philosophy. Critical Concepts in Philosophy. London: Routledge.
Chevalier, J. M., & Buckles, D. J. (2013). Participatory Action Research: Theory and Methods for Engaged Inquiry. London and New York: Routledge.
Cohen, A. I., & Wellman, C. H. (Eds.). (2005). Contemporary Debates in Applied Ethics. Malden MA: Blackwell.
Etzkowitz, H., & Leydesdorff, L. (2000). The Dynamics of Innovation: From National Systems and ‘Mode 2’ to a Triple Helix of University-Industry-Government Relations. Research Policy, 29, 109–123.
Felt, U., Fouché, R., Miller, C. A., & Smith-Doerr, L. (Eds.). (2017). The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies (4th ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Gibbons, M., Limoges, C., Nowotny, H., Schwartzman, S., Scott, P., & Trow, M. (2010 [1994]). The New Production of Knowledge: The Dynamics of Science and Research in Contemporary Societies. London et al.: Sage.
Girard, J. P., & Girard, J. (2015). Defining Knowledge Management: Toward an Applied Compendium. Online Journal of Applied Knowledge Management, 3(1), 14.
Habermas, J. (1995). Between Facts and Norms. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Hölscher, K., Wittmayer, J. M., & Loorbach, D. (2018). Transition Versus Transformation: What’s the Difference? Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 27, 1–3.
Houghton, J., & Sheehan, P. (2000). A Primer on the Knowledge Economy. CSES Working Paper No. 18. Melbourne: Victoria University of Technology, Centre for Strategic Economic Studies.
Howlett, M. (2012). Designing Public Policies: Principles and Instruments (2nd ed.). New York and London: Routledge.
International Social Science Council (ISSC). (2012). Transformative Cornerstones of Social Science Research for Global Change. Paris. Retrieved from www.worldsocialscience.org.
Ives, C. D., Abson, D. J., von Wehrden, H., Dorninger, C., Klaniecki, K., & Fischer, J. (2018). Reconnecting with Nature for Sustainability. Sustainability Science, 13, 1389–1397.
Jamison, A. (2002). The Making of Green Knowledge: Environmental Politics and Cultural Transformation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kates, R. W., Clark, W. C., Corell, R., Hall, J. M., Jaeger, C. C., Lowe, I., et al. (2001). Sustainability Science. Science, 292, 641–642.
Kibert, C. J., Monroe, M. C., Peterson, A. L., Plate, R. R., & Thiele, L. P. (2011). Working Towards Sustainability: Ethical Decision-Making in a Technological World. Hoboken, NJ et al.: Wiley.
Kläy, A., Zimmermann, A. B., & Schneider, F. (2015). Rethinking Science for Sustainable Development: Reflexive Interaction for a Paradigm Change. Futures, 65, 72–85.
Krämer, K., & Vellguth, K. (Eds.). (2017). Creation: Living Together in Our Common House (One World Theology) (Vol. 11). Freiburg: Herder.
Kuhn, T. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Leal Filho, W. (Ed.). (2015). Transformative Approaches to Sustainable Development at Universities: Working Across Disciplines. Cham et al. Springer.
Lynch, R. A. (2011). Foucault’s Theory of Power. In D. Taylor (Ed.), Michel Foucault: Key Concepts (pp. 13–26). Acumen Publishing Ltd.
Marshall, A. (1923). Industry and Trade. London: Macmillan.
Miller, T. R., Wiek, A., Ansong, D., Robinson, J., Olsson, L., Kriebel, D., et al. (2014). The Future of Sustainability Science: A Solutions-Oriented Research Agenda. Sustainable Science, 9, 239–246.
Nowotny, H., Scott, P., & Gibbons, M. (2001). Re-Thinking Science, Knowledge and the Public in an Age of Uncertainty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
OECD. (1999). Managing National Innovation Systems. Paris: OECD Publications Service.
Ostrom, E. (2007). A Diagnostic Framework for Going Beyond Panaceas. PNAS, 104(39), 15181–15187.
Pearce, D. (2002). An Intellectual History of Environmental Economics. Annual Review of Energy and the Environment, 25, 57–81.
Perera, A. H., Buse, L. J., & Crow, T. R. (Eds.). (2006). Forest Landscape Ecology, Transferring Knowledge to Practice. New York: Springer.
Poteet, M. L., Zugec, L., & Craig Wallace, J. (2016). The Bridge: Connecting Science and Practice. The Industrial Psychologist, 53(4). Retrieved February 10, 2020, from https://www.siop.org/Research-Publications/TIP/TIP-Back-Issues/2016/April/ArtMID/20280/ArticleID/788/.
Rayner, A. D. M. (2010). Inclusionality and Sustainability – Attuning with the Currency of Natural Energy Flow and How This Contrasts with Abstract Economic Rationality. Environmental Economics, 1(1), 102–112.
Reason, P., & Bradbury, H. (Eds.). (2008). The Sage Handbook of Action Research: Participative Inquiry and Practice. London et al.: Sage.
Rolston, H. (1999). Nature and Culture in Environmental Ethics. In K. Brinkmann (Ed.), Ethics: The Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy (Vol. 1, pp. 151–158). Bowling Green, OH: Philosophy Documentation Center.
Rooney, D., Hearn, G., & Ninan, A. (2005). Handbook of the Knowledge Economy. Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.
Roux, D. J., Rogers, K. H., Biggs, H. C., Ashton, P. J., & Sergeant, A. (2006). Bridging the Science–Management Divide: Moving from Unidirectional Knowledge Transfer to Knowledge Interfacing and Sharing. Ecology and Society, 11(1), 4. [Online]. Retrieved from http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art4/.
Schneidewind, U., & Singer-Brodowski, M. (2013). Transformative Wissenschaft. Klimawandel im deutschen Wissenschafts- und Hochschulsystem. Metropolis: Marburg.
Schneidewind, U., Singer-Brodowski, M., & Augenstein, K. (2016). Transformative Science for Sustainability Transitions. In H. G. Brauch (Ed.), Handbook on Sustainability Transition and Sustainable Peace (pp. 123–136). Cham: Springer.
Schütz, A. (1932). Der sinnhafte Aufbau der sozialen Welt: eine Einleitung in die verstehende Soziologie. Wien: J. Springer.
Serenko, A., & Bontis, N. (2017). Global Ranking of Knowledge Management and Intellectual Capital Academic Journals: 2017 Update. Journal of Knowledge Management, 21(3), 675–692.
Serenko, A., Bontis, N., Booker, L., Sadeddin, K., & Hardie, T. (2010). A Scientometric Analysis of Knowledge Management and Intellectual Capital Academic Literature (1994–2008). Journal of Knowledge Management, 14(1), 13–23.
Shinn, T. (2002). The Triple Helix and New Production of Knowledge: Prepackaged Thinking on Science and Technology. Social Studies of Science, 32(4), 599–614.
Singer, P. (Ed.). (1986). Applied Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
WBGU. (2011). World in Transition: A Social Contract for Sustainability. Berlin: WBGU - German Advisory Council on Global Change.
Weiler, H. N. (2011). Knowledge and Power: The New Politics of Higher Education. Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, XXV(3), 205–221.
Western, K. I. (Ed.). (2012). Foundations of the Knowledge Economy: Innovation, Learning and Clusters. Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.
Western, D. (2001). Human-Modified Ecosystems and Future Evolution. PNAS, 98(10), 5458–5465.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Appendices: Further Information and Material
Appendices: Further Information and Material
1.1 1. Questions and Individual Exercises
1.1.1 Learning Exercise 1: Example of a Traditional Concept and Model for Connecting Science and Practice
Download from the Internet the model “The Bridge” in the short text by Poteet, M. L., Zugec, L., & Craig Wallace, J. (2016). The Bridge: Connecting Science and Practice. The Industrial Psychologist, 53(4). Retrieved from https://www.siop.org/Research-Publications/TIP/TIP-Back-Issues/2016/April/ArtMID/20280/ArticleID/788/.
Discuss this model critically with regard to its strengths and weaknesses. Is the description sufficient to provide concrete rules and procedures for science-practice integration?
1.1.2 Learning Exercise 2: A Complex Model of Science-Practice Relation—Systemic Interaction
To understand the complex forms of science-practice relation in the new forms of knowledge production described and discussed in this chapter, it is suggested to read the following article about sustainability research:
-
Kläy, A., Zimmermann, A. B., & Schneider, F. (2015). Rethinking Science for Sustainable Development: Reflexive Interaction for a Paradigm Change. Futures, 65, 72–85.
Discuss critically (in a group) how the suggested changes for developing a transformative science for sustainability can be realised practically. What are the obstacles? Which questions and problems need to be addressed that are not discussed by the authors?
1.1.3 Learning Exercise 3: Transition and Transformation
Read and discuss a short article to explore the differences between the concepts of transition and transformation:
The concepts transition and transformation are both used in this book, differentiating vaguely between “transition” as a term designating more simple changes and less complex systems, not necessarily the large scale system transformations as that of the global economy or modern society discussed in the sustainability process and specified as “social-ecological transformation”. The concepts are not strictly standardised in definition and application. To see, how they are applied in sustainability research and practice—how they differ and how they can be connected—read the following short article and consider different perspectives on non-linear societal change:
-
Hölscher, K., Wittmayer, J. M., & Loorbach, D. (2018). Transition Versus Transformation: What’s the Difference? Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 27, 1–3.
It is suggested that you read the article and discuss individually or in group the differences between the terms, as well as advantages and disadvantages of both.
1.1.4 Learning Exercise 4: Responsibilities of the Present Generation Towards Future Generations
Download from the internet the “Declaration on the Responsibilities of the Present Generations Towards Future Generations” from the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) from November 12, 1997.
Discuss critically the twelve articles of the declaration with regard to their realisation and implementation through policies and law. How (and how far) can the principles be translated into concrete rules for social action and collective behaviour?
1.2 2. Further Reading Suggested: Deepening, Thematically Specialised
Bucchi, M., & Trench, B. (Eds.). (2014). Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology (2nd ed.). London and New York: Routledge.
Felt, U., Fouché, R., Miller, C. A., & Smith-Doerr, L. (Eds.). (2017). The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies (4th ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Kibert, C. J., Monroe, M. C., Peterson, A. L., Plate, R. R., & Thiele, L. P. (2011). Working Towards Sustainability: Ethical Decision-Making in a Technological World. Hoboken, NJ et al.: Wiley.
Rooney, D., Hearn, G., & Ninan, A. (2005). Handbook of the Knowledge Economy. Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.
Scientific journals (international, peer reviewed):
“Global Change”, “Earth System Governance”, “Ecology and Society”, “Education for Sustainable Development”, “Environmental Values”, “Review of Environmental Economics and Policy”, “International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education”, “Journal of Education for Sustainable Development”, “The Journal of Sustainability Education”, “Social Studies of Science”, “Science”, “Technology & Human Values”, “Science, Technology and Society”, “Science as Culture”. “Sustainability Science”
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bruckmeier, K. (2020). Science and Practice in the Sustainability Process. In: Economics and Sustainability. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56627-2_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56627-2_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-56626-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-56627-2
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)