| 1. |
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Anatomy of a 21st-century sustainability project: The untold stories
- 2020
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (refereegranskat)abstract
- What does a sustainability project look like in the 21st century? Not the glossy version, but the naked truth? Tired of manicured, over-theorised accounts of the ‘musts’ and ‘shoulds’ of sustainability transitions, we got to the bottom of things; actually, to the very bottom of the project hierarchy: the individual. Our point of departure is that projects are nothing but temporarily interconnected people. This means that if we don’t know what people do and what they think about their work, we will never be able to create a deeper understanding of the project, its rationale and future impact. Making use of the autoethnographic method, this book provides critical insights into what it’s like being part of a 21st-century project. Building on unfiltered first-hand contributions from 73 authors representing the five organs of a project’s anatomy – the brain (theoreticians), the skeleton (leaders), the limbs (strategists), the heart (local stakeholders) and the lungs (researchers) – the book covers all the important aspects of contemporary project-making: (1) projectification as a societal phenomenon; (2) sustainability as the main project buzzword; (3) transdisciplinarity as a hot working method; (4) economy as the invisible project propeller; (5) space as the contextual project qualifier; (6) gender and integration as the obstinate orphans of project-making; (7) trends as the villains of thoughtless project mimicry; (8) politics as the “necessary evil” of projects; and (9) knowledge production as the cornerstone of all project work. The book ends with an extensive critical analysis of what makes a project tick and how to avoid project failure. We infer that talking about project outcomes and impacts is just that… talking. What makes a difference is what can be done to the project in itself. Three important virtues – the ABC of project-making – emanate from this book’s 40 chapters: building good relationships (Affinity), having the guts to make a change (Bravery), and showing willingness to learn (Curiosity). These are the basis for the successful execution of future sustainability projects, where complexity, unpredictability and desperation will become a staple force to recon with. The original contribution of this book is to shed light on the silent triumphs and hidden pathologies of everyday project-making in an effort to elevate individual knowledge to a level of authority for solving the wicked – yet project-infused – problems of our time.
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| 2. |
- Dymitrow, Mirek, et al.
(författare)
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Anatomy of a 21st-century project: A critical analysis
- 2019
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Ingår i: Anatomy of a 21st-century sustainability project: The untold stories. Dymitrow, M. and Ingelhag, K. (eds.). - Gothenburg : Mistra Urban Futures / Chalmers University of Technology. - 9789198416633 ; , s. 205-236
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this analytical chapter we focus on human factors to shed light on what a 21st-century project might look like from within. Adopting a non-essentialist perspective to project-making, we at the same time acknowledge that the notion of human nature is blurred, dynamic, changeable, heterogeneous, and internally riven. The human condition, hence, always dictates what ontological position a project adopts regarding its subject matter, execution and end results. In this respect, with this book we commit to an open-ended normativity: normative by reluctantly accepting the bias of the project formulas as we have defined their ability to shape the contemporary world, but open-ended with regard to a constant awareness that all knowledge is constructed, fluid and flawed, and that the insights here presented are only some of many possible interpretations. That said, we do not believe that plurality of opinion is intrinsically useful for creating ‘good projects’ – we believe it is an overused statement (cf. de Botton 2019) – but plurality of opinion is possibly the only way to unravel how a project operates and what keeps it afloat, including its silent triumphs and hidden pathologies. Since values and value systems can differ even within very small entities, to truly understand the inner workings of a project requires covering all its nooks and crannies. This methodological approach – autoethnography – is represented in the vast empirical section of this book – top to bottom and side to side, the results of which are discussed in the ensuing nine subsections. When things are whipped up into a sustainability frenzy with a flurry of divergent messages, it is easy to lose track of goal and purpose. For change to happen, we must dare to open a can of worms and find each other in the disenchantment of our broken world. The battle against unsustainability is a war of attrition: words against deeds – and both are enclosed in projects.
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| 3. |
- Dymitrow, Mirek, et al.
(författare)
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Anatomy of a 21st-century project: A quick autopsy
- 2019
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Ingår i: Dymitrow, M. and Ingelhag, K. (eds.), Anatomy of a 21st-century sustainability project: The untold stories. - Gothenburg : Mistra Urban Futures / Chalmers University of Technology. - 9789198416633 ; , s. 1-12
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We all are accustomed to projects. Projects are everywhere, and everything is basically a project. We have learnt how to deal with projects, for better or worse. Some of us love them, some of us are fed up with them. But projects are here to stay. Projects are far from a new invention, what has changed is the fine-tuning. It has changed to the point that projects of today are virtually unrecognisable from those from days of yore. All projects of today ‘must’ be green. They must have social relevance. They must be innovative, and must leave footprints (not ecological, hopefully). Projects of today are ideally transdisciplinary; wearing blinkers is a thing of the past. Inclusive projects, bottom-up projects, future-minded projects… who would even challenge that? Projects are no longer targeted, planned, structured endeavours; that description no longer suffices. To be able to do projects today, we are trained in project management, project leadership, spreadsheets, GANT charts, swimlanes, Kanban, Scrum, Waterfall, sprints, deliverables, bandwidths, roadblocks, backlogs, agile methodologies and the like. Have you noticed a pattern yet? On the other hand, projects of today are full of pitfalls. Lack of resources, scope creep, poor project handling, unrealistic deadlines, lack of interest from stakeholders or simply not paying attention to warning signs are just some of the most oft-cited reasons why projects fail. With this book, we want to halt this chthonic gallop, and just pause for a while. We want to open the lid to the black box of project-making and let it stay aslant for the time it takes to read this book, so we can peek into what goes on – on the inside.
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| 4. |
- Dymitrow, Mirek, et al.
(författare)
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Local projects replicated: Insights from Urban Rural Gothenburg
- 2019
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Social and life sciences are currently (2019) facing a replication crisis, with scholars having found that the results of many scientific studies are difficult or outright impossible to replicate or reproduce on subsequent investigation. This brings to mind the following question: If science, supposedly the most robust platform for knowledge-making and knowledge transfer available, cannot handle replicability effectively, what guarantees do we have that societal “comparative projects” are truly comparable? In comparative sociology, comparison of social processes between nation states or across different types of society looks for similarities across different countries and cultures to uncover the general processes that underlie apparently different social orderings. This, in turn, forms the basis for the replicability of societal development projects. In this interim progress report, we look at one such project, ‘Urban Rural Gothenburg’. We firstly evaluate what results have been delivered in view of its initial assumptions, and what can be considered a failure. Secondly, we critically reflect upon what criteria might have been present for either the success or failure of some of its subprojects, respectively. This, we argue, is key for understanding what might work in the context of cross-cultural replication, and what might be considered inappropriate for such task.
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| 5. |
- Dymitrow, Mirek, et al.
(författare)
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Making two worlds meet
- 2019
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Ingår i: Dymitrow, M. and Ingelhag, K. (eds.), Anatomy of a 21st-century sustainability project: The untold stories. - Gothenburg : Mistra Urban Futures / Chalmers University of Technology. - 9789198416633 ; , s. 175-179
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This chapter focuses on the personal experiences of collaborations based on academic–practitioner interactions, which are not always as straightforward as presented in commonplace transdisciplinary theory. By using autoethnographic methodology, this chapter provides some of the most important insights from past and ongoing work from a major sustainability project that uses the ‘Research Forum’ (RF) as a new a means of co-production of transdisciplinary knowledge. The reflections center on the most common modes of interaction observed between academics to practitioners, but also on the pros and cons of everyday work in a overtly transdisciplinary context. The findings reveal that transdisciplinarity is neither a business deal nor a display of unconditional democracy. It is a tricky form of collaboration that takes time, energy and trust to understand, and this level of maturity may be difficult to obtain using the commonplace project format.
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| 6. |
- Ingelhag, Karin, 1958, et al.
(författare)
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Celebrating a truly collective effort : Preface
- 2019
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Ingår i: Anatomy of a 21st-century sustainability project: The untold stories. Dymitrow, M. and Ingelhag, K. (eds.). - : Chalmers tekniska högskola. - 9789198416633
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This popular-science publication emanating from Mistra Urban Futures, a centre for sustainable development at Chalmers University of Technology and the Gothenburg Centre for Sustainable Development at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The book represents a final, summative contribution from a three-year transdisciplinary project called the Research Forum (RF), a collaborative platform in the interface between academics and practitioners. The Research Forum, in turn, is Mistra Urban Futures’ contribution to a large European Union-sponsored project for sustainable development titled ‘Urban Rural Gothenburg’ (URG), with the overarching aim to create improved conditions for green innovation and green business development between the city and the countryside. In this book, URG represents the anchor point (case study) around which its empirical part revolves, while the theoretical, analytic and editorial superstructure of the bookreflects the purview of the Research Forum. The book is a comprehensive publication in academic dimensions, consisting of 40 chapters written by 73 authors, representing an entire spectrum of roles and assignments within the project, including several associated actors, not directly connected to the project. We interpret the fact that so many actors have shown interest in participating in this publication as a sign of the book’s relevance and importance for developing the pentahelix model within future sustainability projects.
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| 7. |
- Ingelhag, Karin, 1958, et al.
(författare)
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The future of sustainability projects: Flights of fancy or a threnody to a lost age?
- 2019
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Ingår i: Dymitrow, M. and Ingelhag, K. (eds.), Anatomy of a 21st-century sustainability project: The untold stories. - Gothenburg : Mistra Urban Futures / Chalmers University of Technology. - 9789198416633 ; , s. 236-238
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Just like a living organism, also the project has an anatomy, a life span and a purpose. A project has its given actors, given timeframe and phases, and a given goal. Towards the project’s completion, all these factors must intertwine perfectly, otherwise the project’s success will be challenged. Uncovering how these intricacies are held in place has been the epistemological foundation of this book. However, rather than relying on formal project descriptions, reports and evaluations, we chose a different way, autoethnography. By exploring the implicit knowledge that emerges during the process of running a complex 21st-century sustainability project, we wanted to better understand what makes it tick, halt or change its course. Taking cue from the various project actors’ personal reflections on their own role within the project has helped illuminate a complex transdisciplinary co-creation process from the perspective of the individual. We conclude that if we truly want to attain sustainability transitions, then the organisation, the methods and the modes of thinking utilised in projects must differ from the traditional ones. But reaching a breakpoint for behavioural change must be rooted in interactions where the participating individuals and organisations have a common understanding of the complex challenges that are entailed in running a sustainability project in the 21st century.
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