Sustaining Places: Sensibility Models as Decision Support Tools for Messy Problems

Greg Walkerden
Additional contact information
Greg Walkerden: Department of Geography and Planning, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 6, 1-37

Abstract: Methods for passing on findings of ecological research are well established; methods for passing on what is learned in environmental management are much less institutionalized, and much less comprehensive. In particular, questions that are less disciplinable are less likely to be investigated and the learnings shared. A key challenge is that the orderliness of knowing-how is not nearly as systematic as science, law or ethics. It is shaped by practical exigencies, and so is profoundly historical-reflecting tradition and experience. Felt understanding, researched through disciplined reflective practice, provides a valuable empirical opportunity. It is the layer of knowing-how that practitioners rely on (consider, for example, the importance that feeling uncomfortable in a negotiation has). Secondly, it is a window on the field of possibilities practitioners are considering, so it offers a wider lens on know how than research that focuses on what practitioners are observed doing. Thirdly, it makes complex practice skills such as acting simultaneously as scientist, politician and manager researchable. Decision support tools built from explicating felt understanding therefore better support flexibility and openness, and are better suited to scaffolding expert practice than, for example, documenting repertoires of procedures. They are particularly well suited to sharing expertise related to ‘messy problems’ encountered by sustainability practitioners. The ‘sensibility model’ explicated here is a proof of concept of an alternative way of researching know how, and supporting reflective transfer amongst sustainability practitioners.

Keywords: ecosystem management; planning; adaptive management; reflective practice; knowledge management; tacit knowledge (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/6/1725/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/6/1725/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:6:p:1725-:d:216124

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().