Search

In September 2016, we organized a roundtable entitled “Community engaged cultural research: an emerging agenda of practice” at the 9th Midterm Conference of the ESA Research Network Sociology of the Arts in Porto, Portugal. The authors sharing their research during that session challenged us to go further and publish our experiences with society-friendly research in a variety of cultural contexts, practices, backgrounds and beliefs. By choosing the theme of “community and creative research”, this thematic issue of Conjunctions has gathered experiences from around the world (Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, Portugal, Switzerland, Argentina and Cyprus) on different approaches to democratic practice using the lens of cultural participation. It feeds on the intersection of action research work performed by academics, activists, artist, theorists and citizens, who study and work within different sectors of our societies through participatory methodologies.

Within tourism research, there has been little attention to research–practice knowledge exchange during the research process nor to practice-based research. This article examines a research-and-application project on creative tourism in which research–practice collaboration is explicitly foregrounded and made central. Through a reflexive process, the challenges this hybrid approach embodies and the pragmatic dilemmas that accompany the complexities of building closer research–practice relations and capturing practice-based knowledge are examined in three strategic areas: developing spaces for ongoing knowledge exchange, enabling practitioners to take on the role of co-researcher, and fostering researchers’ close attention to the application side of the project. In the context of the CREATOUR project, hybrid roles question who can do research, reinforce consideration of the added value of research processes for practitioners, and lead researchers to go beyond traditional research activities, with this ‘disruptive’ context causing tensions, uncertainties, and dynamic co-learning situations. Ongoing interactions over time are necessary to build relations, understanding, and trust, while flexibility and responsiveness are vital to address emerging issues. Training on research–practice collaboration, knowledge transfer, and mentorship techniques for both researchers and practitioners is advised. Challenges in integrating practice-based knowledge directly into research articles suggest a customized communication platform may be a useful ‘bridging’ mechanism between practice-based and academic knowledge systems. 摘要:在旅游研究领域, 很少关注研究过程中的研究与实践的知识交流, 也很少关注基于实践的研究。本文研究了一个创意旅游方面的研究应用项目, 该项目明确以研究与实践的合作为中心展开研究。本文通过一个反思的过程从三个方面（发展持续进行知识交流的空间,推动实业界认识承担合作研究人员的视角以及促进研究者密切关注项目的应用面）思考了这种混合方法表现出来的挑战以及伴随建立更紧密的研究实践关系, 获取实践性知识的复杂所提出的实际困难。在创意旅游项目的背景下, 多元混搭角色, 用这种产生紧张、不确定性和动态共同学习状况的“颠覆性”背景, 质问了谁可以做研究, 强化研究过程给从业者带来附加价值的想法, 以及带领研究人员超越传统的研究活动等方面的问题。为了建立关系、理解和信任, 需要不断地进行互动, 同时灵活性和反应能力对于解决新出现的问题至关重要。建议为研究人员和实践者提供研究-实践协作、知识转移和辅导技巧方面的培训。将基于实践的知识直接集成到研究文章中所面临的挑战表明, 定制的交流平台可能是基于实践的知识系统和学术知识系统之间有用的“桥梁”机制

WITH THIS PAPER, WE WISH TO SHARE THE EXPERIENCE OF AN ARTS-BASED ACTION RESEARCH INTERVENTION IN THE SOFIA STREET, IN COIMBRA (PORTUGAL), A CITY STREET THAT WAS INSCRIBED AS AN UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE IN 2013. THIS INTERVENTION IS PART OF THE BIGGER ACTION-RESEARCH PROJECT NAMED ARTERIA (2018-2020), WHERE WE WISH TO EXPLORE THE POSSIBLE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE ARTISTIC PRACTICE AND THE FIELD OF SOCIAL SCIENCE. IN THIS PAPER, WE DESCRIBE HOW THE FIELD RESEARCH, WHICH TOOK PLACE IN THIS STREET (THE PREPARATION OF COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS AND THEIR IMPLEMENTATION), OFFERS A PROCESS OF METHODOLOGICAL EXPLORATION ON HOW SOCIAL SCIENCE METHODOLOGIES MAY BE ARTICULATED WITH THE PROCESSES OF ARTISTIC CREATION. WE SHOW HOW THIS CAN BE DONE BY DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO CULTURAL PARTICIPATION THROUGH THE PROCESS OF IMMATERIAL CO-CREATION OF KNOWLEDGE. AT THE SAME TIME, WE SHARE REFLECTIONS ON HOW THE ARTISTIC INTERVENTION MAY HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION OF SOFIA STREET.

This paper aims to reflect on the results of the project Community Intervention in Urban Areas: a youth driven initiative. This project envisioned the development of a Transnational Seminar that gave origin to the development of youth arts intervention projects and to the elaboration of the document “Youth Policies for Urban Neighborhoods”. The project started from the youth’s reflection on the physical, social, economic, and cultural degradation of specific spaces/territories and communities in Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium (spaces in ruins, non-places and other abandoned areas), exploring these territories as spaces for transformation and future renovation. The idea is to explore the ways youth may contribute to the transformation of these spaces, therefore enhancing their civic knowledge, capacity to intervene and influence policy and research under this theme. We wish to explore the role of younger generations, and youth in particular, through a change of paradigm. That is, by developing alternatives of intervention, through Participant Action Research and through the exploration of its connections with artistic practice and the cultural field in general. We hope this approach can influence local, national and European youth education policies and enhance different approaches to research in general.