Mess among Disciplines

Interdisciplinarity in Environmental Research

Bibliographic Data

ID5147754
AuthorsAndrea Donaldson (0000-0003-0891-327X, Newcastle University, corresponding author), Andrew Donaldson, Neil Ward (0000-0002-0732-2278, University of East Anglia, corresponding author), Sue Bradley (Newcastle University, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume42
Issue7
Pages1521-1536
Publication date2010-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironment and Planning A Economy and Space (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0308-518X • E-ISSN: 1472-3409
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1068/a42483
OpenAlexW2148925266
LanguageEN
Citations received26
References cited30

This paper discusses interdisciplinary collaboration between social and natural scientists from the perspective of 'mess'. The literature on interdisciplinarity has generated a series of conventions about what it means to conduct interdisciplinary research. Building on the experience of a research project that brought social and natural scientists together with local residents to study flooding, we argue that interdisciplinarity can be understood as a response to mess, to the irreducibly complex problems of the world. Mess can be dealt with as an epistemological or ontological problem. We argue that discursive conventions focus on the epistemological dimensions of mess and thus have their limits. By considering the ontological dimensions of mess the whole range of objects that are involved in interdisciplinary research is brought into focus

Engineering ethics · Epistemology · Geography · Social science · Sociology · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Computer Science · Engineering · Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration · Philosophy · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance

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