Transdisciplinarity in deriving sustainability pathways for agriculture - Transition Pathways towards Sustainability in Agriculture: Case Studies from Europe - page 172

explained by Karanikolas et al . (this volume), transdisciplinarity has underpinned the
project structure. The involvement of National Stakeholder Partnership Groups (NSPGs)
from the beginning of the project, guiding and supporting decisions taken on project
development in each region, represents a form of transdisciplinarity. Through the visioning
process, stakeholder involvement was increased, moving the process further towards
achieving the aim of transdisciplinary research; co-construction of research findings within
a well-defined participatory approach.
Transdisciplinary research aims to transcend disciplinary limitations as well as the
science-society divide, and to promote science-society dialogue (Darnhofer, this volume). It
integrates potentially disparate knowledge with a view to creating useable knowledge,
knowledge that can be applied in a given problem context and that has some prospect of
producing change in that context (Darnhofer, this volume). In relation to transitions and
their inherent transformational change, transdisciplinary approaches are advocated for use
in transition management, where the multi-level perspective (MLP) is applied to action
research intended to facilitate ongoing sustainability transitions. In this research process,
transdisciplinary approaches were considered essential to the effective identification of
sustainability visions and pathways, in order to steer change processes through the
involvement of multiple actors at different levels. The aim of this chapter is, thus, to:
 Present the results of the transdisciplinary visioning process (co-constructed visions
and pathways for the local study regions), highlighting the main similarities and
differences between the European regions considered;
 Assess the potential outcomes and drawbacks of a transdisciplinary process in
practice when dealing with transition processes in agriculture, and to reveal what
appear to be the conditions for success of this type of transdisciplinary approach, in
the multiple regional contexts of Europe; and
 Reflect on the complex role that the transdisciplinary dialogue had on the
stakeholders involved, both the practitioners and the researchers.
The first part of this chapter reflects on how transdisciplinarity can be understood and
applied in practice. The discussion then moves on to present the methodological steps
taken, and provides a summary of the resulting outcomes. The chapter evaluates the
transdisciplinary process, and the challenges ahead, in terms of transition processes in
agriculture and rural areas.
Understanding transdisciplinarity
Transdisciplinarity is considered central to understanding and resolving sustainability
challenges (Lang et al. , 2012). It is seen as holding much promise when tackling messy or
'wicked' social and environmental problems which are intertwined with the socio-political
context and require the participation of stakeholders to generate socially acceptable
outcomes (Carew and Wickson, 2010; Neef and Neubert, 2011). However, the increasing
use of transdisciplinarity in political and scientific discourses, and in applied studies and
research processes, has led to considerable confusion over the concept and practice (Reed,
2008). There is, therefore, an urgent need to strengthen the knowledge realm of