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This commentary introduces civic geographies as a theme in Area, where papers can be collected, allowing a space for discussion at a time when the civic university agenda has become a priority for the sector. It calls for the discipline to share and debate ideas about civic geographies, showcase civic geographical research and teaching, and create a community of practice to develop approaches to engagement and social responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between people, place, and data presents challenges and opportunities for science and society. While there has been general enthusiasm for and work toward Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data for open science, only more recently have these data-centric principles been extended into dimensions important to people and place-notably, the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance, which affect collective benefit, authority to control, responsibility, and ethics. The FAIR Island project seeks to translate these ideals into practice, leveraging the institutional infrastructure provided by scientific field stations. Starting with field stations in French Polynesia as key use cases that are exceptionally well connected to international research networks, FAIR Island builds interoperability between different components of critical research infrastructure, helping connect these to societal benefit areas. The goal is not only to increase reuse of scientific data and the awareness of work happening at the field stations but more generally to accelerate place-based research for sustainable development. FAIR Island works reflexively, aiming to scale horizontally through networks of field stations and to serve as a model for other sites of intensive long-term scientific study.

Rapid global change threatens to outstrip global efforts to establish sustainable stewardship of social-ecological systems (SES). Place-based research can enhance effectiveness of global sustainability policies and actions by providing contextualized knowledge underpinning bottom-up solutions. However, the use and transfer of place-based knowledge remains a major challenge. In this study, we analyze place-based knowledge transfer in a local-to-global and knowledge-to-action context. We aim to provide insights on when, how, and why place-based research can inform decision making at the global scale and lead to action toward more sustainable and just futures. Our iterative and exploratory methodology involved alternating rounds of literature reviews and interviews with interdisciplinary researchers. We identified four key steps (place-based knowledge production, knowledge synthesis, knowledge use at the global scale, and knowledge revision and lessons learned) and five facilitative factors (bridging organizations, knowledge brokers, boundary organizations, institutionalized knowledge governance, and polycentric governance systems), which provide a comprehensive understanding of place-based knowledge transfer. Our conceptual framework provides suggestions on how to set up place-based knowledge transfer to be more effective, complete, and inclusive. Furthermore, our study discusses two major structural challenges that currently inhibit place-based knowledge transfer and shows ways forward for science and policy to overcome these. We argue that placebased knowledge transfer can be an effective means to undo dominant power relations and the epistemic status quo and enable a shift from short-termism in science and policy toward more long-term SES goals. Therefore, it is seminal to open up the predominant value system to more diverse knowledge systems, signifying a shift away from global decision making that is guided by neoliberal capitalist principles and over-emphasizes short-term and individual gains. Finally, it is crucial to prioritize learning over knowing to exploit the long-term value of place-based knowledge transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a methodological, theoretical, and technological outline of codesign principles for the effective development of digital heritage extended reality systems for health and care. The paper is based on two large-scale research projects involving ageing in rural and coastal communities, focused on the codesign of extended reality systems to stimulate new forms of access to local heritage sites with potential impact on health outcomes. Our approach stems from a multi-disciplinary collaboration between health, digital design, and heritage specialists, and suggests ways to reconcile diverging forms of knowledge production, such as our 'researcher in residence' methodology and the place-based complexities of codesigning such systems. Based on an analysis of fieldwork data and our own fieldwork experiences, the paper presents a roadmap for the codesign of digital heritage extended reality systems for health interventions that meet the needs of stakeholders and organisational implementation requirements, providing a useful tool in supporting the health and social care system for our ageing population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study was to summarise key evidence from recent Australian rural nutrition research and provide recommendations for future nutrition and dietetics research with rural communities. Context: Clear evidence demonstrates that diet plays a role in the health gap between rural and metropolitan Australia. Despite the opportunity to address the health of rural Australians through better nutrition, alarmingly low investment in nutrition and dietetics research has occurred historically, and over the past decade. Approach: A review of the evidence was undertaken by rural nutrition and dietetics leaders to provide a commentary piece to inform future rural nutrition research efforts. Conclusion: Establishing strong, collaborative place‐based nutrition and dietetics research teams are necessary to combat the significant gaps in the scientific knowledge of solutions to improve nutrition in rural Australia. Further, dieticians and nutritionists who live in and understand the rural contexts are yet to be fully harnessed in research, and better engaging with these professionals will have the best chance of successfully addressing the nutrition‐related disease disparity between rural and metropolitan Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language bias is a common yet undiscussed practice that can significantly constrain the rigor and generalization of place-based studies and literature reviews. This article discusses how research published in English compared with other languages is considered or not when conducting literature reviews. This research focuses specifically on tourism research and explores specific journal article examples in the contemporary subject area of overtourism within destination-based studies. To do this, we take a critical linguistic, postpositivist approach to three case studies drawn from the literature on the phenomenon of overtourism. The study highlights how research in languages other than English is often discounted or omitted in academic fields that are dominated by English language publications. Nevertheless, our findings strongly support the proposition that place-specific research, to be rigorous and generalizable, should be supported by research carried out in relevant languages for its location. This research provides evidence that place-based research, based on literature from multiple languages and interdisciplinarity, can be reliable, valid, and trustworthy. The study also notes the recommendations for conducting literature reviews within place-specific research and avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background The scale of land degradation worldwide has led the UN to declare the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration and movements such as the Bonn Challenge ( https://www.bonnchallenge.org/ ), have placed ecological restoration on the global policy agenda. Achieving such ambitious policy targets and restoration goals will necessitate complex trade-offs against limited time, competing knowledge, costs, resources, and varying societal preferences among different stakeholders. Participatory scenarios are a tool to navigate uncertainties surrounding future trajectories and simultaneously incorporate different stakeholder perspectives. They can provide a path to identify collaborative solutions best suited for the local cultures and societies they are tied to. However, there is no systematic understanding of how participatory scenarios are being used in ecological restoration planning to navigate trade-offs in restoration outcomes. We will fill this research gap by mapping the existing evidence from participatory restoration scenarios to answer the primary research question ‘How are outcomes explored in participatory ecological restoration scenarios?’. This will be done through five sub-questions focussing on characteristics of the evidence base, types of study design, how outcomes and trade-offs in those are explored, and an examination of the role of participants in the scenario process and outcome determination. Methods This protocol outlines the methods for a systematic map to identify studies that have used participatory scenarios in restoration planning. A comprehensive and reproducible search strategy will be undertaken across bibliographic databases, web-based engines, and targeted searches in organisational online libraries. Searches will be done online in English, but results in all languages will be screened. Search results will go through a two-step screening process of against pre-determined criteria of inclusion and exclusion, for title and abstract and then full-text. Data will be extracted from eligible studies using a standardised data extraction spreadsheet where details on study characteristics, design and outcomes will be recorded. A searchable database of studies and mapping outcomes will be available upon completion of the work. The aim is to inform how scenarios can be better used as a decision-making tool to increase stakeholder participation and account for trade-offs in restoration outcomes across social, ecological, and economic dimensions.

Sustainability requires a combination of meaningful co-production of locally relevant solutions, synthesis of insights gained across regions, and increased cooperation between science, policy and practice. The Programme for Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) has been coordinating Place-Based Social-Ecological Sustainability Research (PBSESR) across the globe and emphasizes the need for regional scientific nodes from diverse biocultural regions to inform sustainability science and action. In this paper, we assess the strengths of the PBSESR communities in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). We provide an overview of PBSESR literature associated with this region and highlight the achievements of two prominent regional networks: The Social-Ecological Systems and Sustainability Research Network from Mexico (SocioEcoS) and the South American Institute for Resilience and Sustainability Studies from Uruguay (SARAS Institute). Finally, we identify the potential in these nodes to constitute a regional PECS node in Latin America and discuss the capacity needed to ensure such function. The results of the literature review show that while still loosely interconnected across the region, networks play key roles in connecting otherwise cloistered teams and we illustrate how the SocioEcoS network (focusing on transdisciplinary co-production of knowledge towards sustainability) and the SARAS Institute (focusing on innovative approaches for looking at complex social-ecological problems, rooted in slow science and arts) operate as key connectors in the region. We conclude that these organizations combined can embody a Latin American node for PECS, and would thereby not only contribute to regional but also global capacities to advance the sustainability agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many agrifood systems around the world can be characterized as unsustainable. Research is increasingly required to inform the necessary radical transformations of the ways we produce, process, transport, and consume food. This article presents the research approach and methods of an ongoing project carried out at a long-term social–ecological research site, the Zone Atelier Plaine and Val de Sèvre (western France). The research project presented here, Aliment'Actions, started in 2018 and within 10 years of its implementation seeks to study and trigger transformation to enhance the sustainability and resilience of the regional agrifood system. Its research agenda contains four types of actions: (a) backdrop actions that enhance communication and trust between researchers and local stakeholders, (b) targeted actions that are conducted in specific villages with a wide range of stakeholders to elaborate and implement various transformation levers, (c) assessment actions evaluating the effects of different interventions, and (d) communication and result from dissemination actions. Overall, these actions aim to co-produce knowledge, raise awareness regarding challenges in the food system, envision new interactions between stakeholders, collectively generate innovative ideas, and catalyze actions oriented toward agrifood system transformation. The project implementation is adaptive and iterative, from theory to practice. This Methods paper puts this ongoing project into the perspective of other place-based research initiatives and provides insights on how to foster the engagement of non-academic actors in transdisciplinary research supporting agrifood system transformation.

Stakeholders in natural resource management decisions are also multifaceted individuals and members of communities; as such, they bring complex histories, experiences, values, aspirations, and relationships to public participation processes. When these processes fail to take this social context into account, multiple problems can result, including a perceived lack of process trustworthiness; perceived focus on issues that seem immaterial or irrelevant; failure to equitably represent and take account of diverse voices; and failure to engage participants in productive dialogue. In this article we evaluate the Community Voice Method (CVM) as a way of addressing those problems by better situating public participation in place. CVM is a mixed-method approach to public participation in which stakeholders are interviewed and the interview data is presented through a film, which is then screened at public meetings to catalyze dialogue. We draw on 14 years of CVM projects addressing natural resource management issues in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Caribbean. Through an overview of nine projects and their results, and more in-depth consideration of three, we elucidate how this method fosters trustworthy, relevant, representative, and productive public participation that has resulted in community capacity-building, institutional capacity-building, and stakeholder-guided policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The scale of land degradation worldwide has led the UN to declare the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration and movements such as the Bonn Challenge (https://www.bonnchallenge.org/), have placed ecological restoration on the global policy agenda. Achieving such ambitious policy targets and restoration goals will necessitate complex trade-offs against limited time, competing knowledge, costs, resources, and varying societal preferences among different stakeholders. Participatory scenarios are a tool to navigate uncertainties surrounding future trajectories and simultaneously incorporate different stakeholder perspectives. They can provide a path to identify collaborative solutions best suited for the local cultures and societies they are tied to. However, there is no systematic understanding of how participatory scenarios are being used in ecological restoration planning to navigate trade-offs in restoration outcomes. We will fill this research gap by mapping the existing evidence from participatory restoration scenarios to answer the primary research question 'How are outcomes explored in participatory ecological restoration scenarios?'. This will be done through five sub-questions focussing on characteristics of the evidence base, types of study design, how outcomes and trade-offs in those are explored, and an examination of the role of participants in the scenario process and outcome determination. Methods: This protocol outlines the methods for a systematic map to identify studies that have used participatory scenarios in restoration planning. A comprehensive and reproducible search strategy will be undertaken across bibliographic databases, web-based engines, and targeted searches in organisational online libraries. Searches will be done online in English, but results in all languages will be screened. Search results will go through a two-step screening process of against pre-determined criteria of inclusion and exclusion, for title and abstract and then full-text. Data will be extracted from eligible studies using a standardised data extraction spreadsheet where details on study characteristics, design and outcomes will be recorded. A searchable database of studies and mapping outcomes will be available upon completion of the work. The aim is to inform how scenarios can be better used as a decision-making tool to increase stakeholder participation and account for trade-offs in restoration outcomes across social, ecological, and economic dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory approaches to natural resource research, such as citizen science (CS), have become increasingly popular as they foster direct and indirect public input and engagement that can lead to the acquisition of place-specific scientific information needed to address local conservation research and management objectives. Understanding how differing degrees of participant engagement are experienced by those involved and the feasibility of experimental designs (i.e., with random assignment and control groups) to vary and measure such engagement are important and lacking. In this study, we report on an exploratory CS project measuring storm surge in three coastal estuaries, providing lessons learned about the design and sustainment of a quasi-experimental, place-based, co-created CS effort. Drawing from surveys, interviews, and field notes, we discuss methodological and ethical issues related to implementing an experimental design as well instances in which researcher-citizen scientist expectations regarding engagement were (mis)aligned and impacted participant experiences and project success. Place-based, natural resource focused, citizen science projects require high engagement on behalf of project facilitators and may be particularly challenging for practitioners who have university appointments and/or are working in small teams with limited funding sources. Carrying out an experimental design within place-based citizen science initiatives raises practical concerns related to getting research off the ground as well as ethical concerns surrounding participants' engagement preferences. Practitioners must prioritize making space for negotiations and ongoing conversations about expectations for engagement, on behalf of the project facilitators and citizen scientists, at various stages of the project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural depopulation generates deep territorial imbalances, threats regional food security, and causes the irreversible loss of culture and local institutions that manage natural resources and ecosystem services worldwide. While local leadership and economic diversification have been pointed as factors that could trigger rural development, what happens to remote rural areas whose continuous process of depopulation has undermined their social capital and leadership and their endogenous capacity for economic diversification? What realistic policy options could trigger an effective and endogenous rural development process in these weakened areas? Here we used a dynamic simulation model and a sensitivity analysis to explore the long-term effects of local policy options suggested by institutional, academic and local stakeholders that could act on leverage points to revert the depopulation of a marginalized rural area in Mexico, the oasis of Comondú in Baja California Sur. The identified leverage points are related to improving the production yields of irrigated agriculture and livestock farming, the main economic activities of this social-ecological system. Our results showed the positive, but limited, effects of acting on these leverage points. However, they seem plausible good places to act to start an endogenous revitalization process in this rural area. We found complementariness between the stakeholders' management proposals, and high proximity of these proposals to the leverage points, especially the most place-based-specific proposals. This study shows the relevance of place-based research for rural development and how modeling is a valuable decision support tool to evaluate in advance the effectiveness of policy options proposed by stakeholders. [Display omitted] • Sensitivity analysis can identify leverage points to foster rural development. • The most place-based-specific stakeholders' proposals converge to leverage points. • Enhancing farming yields has limited effects but could encourage rural development. • Modeling serves to evaluate in advance the effectiveness of policy options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Place-based social-ecological research is often designed to improve local environmental governance, but it can also inform decisions at larger scales or in other places. However, the focus on local perspectives in such research creates challenges for transferring insights to other locations, and for aggregating understanding to larger scales. In this paper, we discuss how ResNet, a new pan-Canadian network of researchers working on place-based social-ecological case studies via ecosystem services, will face (and hopefully overcome) these challenges while taking advantage of the unique benefits of a place-based approach. Drawing on insights from the literature and from the first 10 years of the Programme for Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS), we outline solutions to six key challenges to multi-scale knowledge integration across place-based cases, and explore how ResNet is employing some of these solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transdisciplinary research that bridges science and society is needed to address the complex social-ecological sustainability challenges we are facing. However, many transdisciplinary researchers grapple with balancing the competing demands of scientific rigour and excellence, societal impact and engagement, and self-care. This is especially evident in the growing literature by early-career researchers describing the challenges of pursuing a transdisciplinary research career in social-ecological sustainability research. To guide discussion and reflection towards a flourishing transdisciplinary research practice, we synthesized our own and other researchers' experiences of using a transdisciplinary approach and formulated the heuristic of the 'Triple-S': caring for Science, Society and Self. This heuristic adds the frequently overlooked personal aspects of transdisciplinary research. Current dominant academic structures, cultures and metrics of success are not supporting a balanced and flourishing transdisciplinary research practice, but rather creating and exacerbating the trade-offs between these three aspects. As an example of a solutions-oriented approach, we developed a theory of change to address the changes we see are necessary to enable a transdisciplinary research practice in line with the Triple-S. We hope that this will foster academic environments where transdisciplinary research practice can flourish and the next generation of researchers are not burnt-out, but empowered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parks and other forms of protected areas worldwide face significant threats from rapid climatic and associated ecological change. While the need to adapt to the impacts of climate change on biodiversity is widely acknowledged, and the extant literature has identified numerous adaptation options, much less is known about the institutional preconditions that enable or inhibit adaptation in resource management systems. We address this gap by presenting a framework that assesses the readiness of protected area organizations to adapt to climate change. Specifically, using a mixed methods approach including a literature review, online survey, and workshop, we: (1) adapt a framework to assess organizational adaptation readiness in protected areas organizations; (2) use the framework to assess organizational adaptation readiness in Bruce Peninsula National Park (BPNP) and Fathom Five National Marine Park (FFNMP) in Ontario, Canada, and (3) identify ways to strengthen the readiness of protected area organizations to respond to climate change. Results indicate that BPNP/FFNMP have low to moderate overall organizational adaptation readiness, with higher readiness in terms of understanding social-ecological systems (e.g., mapping and monitoring social and ecological values) and lower readiness in terms of collaboration, knowledge management and exchange. Recommendations to increase the organizational adaptation readiness of protected area organizations include increasing collaboration and knowledge exchange with partners, local residents, and Indigenous communities, and educating staff and visitors about climate change impacts. Overall, framework outcomes can be used to assess organizational strengths, weaknesses, and most importantly identify areas for resource allocation or re-allocation to enhance readiness and ensure that adaptation planning is translated into on-the-ground action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A central tenet in the conduct of community-based participatory research is the establishment of an allyship between researchers and other actors, a relation that ideally should be reciprocal in nature. In theory, true allyship would stand for a mutual search for understanding and potential transformation of life circumstances through investigation and argumentation, in the absence of coercive force or preset boundaries. However, in practice, researchers often behave as privileged guests that enter a particular local reality at predefined moments in time and leave when they are satisfied with what they got. We critically reflected on the challenge of developing equitable and sustainable relationships that cut across time-space dimensions of collective engagement and action in community-based research. We offer a critique of the project-based logic of participatory research practice and how this may unwittingly affirm actions that work against the concept of true allyship. We advocate for the creation of a 'third sphere' that unfolds itself as an experimental laboratory for constructive and disruptive thought, wherein every stakeholder is equally subjected to the centripetal force of meeting each other in the middle. This increases the likelihood that unanticipated and new ways of thinking and acting will emerge from the collective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For thousands of years Ɂedacho Kué (Artillery Lake, Northwest Territories) has been a key water crossing site for barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus). Human disturbance of barren-ground caribou habitat in northern Canada has emerged as an important focus of study in the last decade; particularly in the Bathurst range of the Northwest Territories where caribou populations have declined by more than 95% since the 1980s. Guided by local Indigenous leaders and Elders, a collaborative research project was developed with the Dëneso'łıné people of Łutsël K'e Dëne First Nation (2012 - 14). This paper describes linkages between knowledge derived from Dëneso'łıné oral history and quantitative dendroecological analysis of trample scars on black spruce (Picea mariana) root samples collected at Ɂedacho Kué to provide a better understanding of caribou use at this location. Findings from oral histories and dendroecology analysis were consistent with one another and with previous dendroecology study in the region, although some discrepancies were detected in data from 1995 - 2006 that require further study to elucidate. Key findings include relatively low caribou use at Ɂedacho Kué during the 1930s and late 1960s, with use increasing into the 1970s and peaking in the late 1980s, as well as Elder and hunter reports of no caribou in some years between 2005 and 2012. This work addresses a gap in scientific data about barren-ground caribou movements at Ɂedacho Kué prior to satellite collar use in 1996 and corroborates previously documented oral histories about the enduring value of Ɂedacho Kué as critical habitat to barren-ground caribou. Given the drastic decline of the Bathurst caribou over the last two decades, more research is needed to understand movements and their relationship to population dynamics. In this context, the research approach described in this paper could be used as an example of how to meaningfully bring together place-based Indigenous knowledge and science in addressing an urgent issue of Arctic sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present research findings from an arts-based research (ABR) project that aimed to redress the symbolic effects of negative recognition associated with place-based stigma. Focusing on two prominently stigmatised neighbourhoods in Melbourne and Hobart (Australia), we explain the rationale for the study and how arts-based tactics were used for phenomenological explorations of familiar environments and to generate alternate, faithful and compelling portrayals of neighbourhoods that stemmed from residents' actual experiences. Our approach to ABR blended sociological concerns with socially engaged practices that emphasised creative and dialogic tactics, provocations and immersive experiences. We explain how art-based tactics were incorporated into artist residency projects that comprised four parts: local induction; excursions to art galleries; a six-week workshop programme; and exhibition events. Following this, interviews were conducted with artist-residents at the conclusion of the projects. Both the artistic outcomes and participants' reflections provide evidence that blending socially engaged art practices and participatory methods can help residents and researchers navigate the internalised effects of stigma in processes of meaning-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among scholars in sustainability science, there is an increasing recognition of the potential of place-based research in the context of transformative change towards sustainability. In this research, researchers may have a variety of roles; these are determined by the researcher's engagement with the subject, the inherent theoretical, normative and methodological choices he or she makes, the researcher's ambitions in contributing to change, and ethical issues. This article explores the varied roles of research fellows within the European Marie Curie ITN research program on sustainable place-shaping (SUSPLACE). By analysing 15 SUSPLACE projects and reflecting on the roles of researchers identified by Wittmayer and Schäpke (Sustain Sci 9(4):483–496, 2014) we describe how the fellows' theoretical positionality, methods applied, and engagement in places led to different research roles. The methodology used for the paper is based on an interactive process, co-producing knowledge with Early Stage Researchers (fellows) of the SUSPLACE consortium. The results show a range of place meanings applied by the fellows. Varied methods are used to give voice to participants in research and to bring them together for joint reflection on values, networks and understandings, co-creating knowledge. Multiple conceptualisations of 'sustainability' were used, reflecting different normative viewpoints. These choices and viewpoints resulted in fellows each engaging in multiple roles, exploring various routes of sustainable place-shaping, and influencing place-relations. Based on our findings we introduce a framework for the 'embodied researcher': a researcher who is engaged in research with their 'brain, heart, hands and feet' and who integrates different roles during the research process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The landscape approach and the ecosystem services (ES) framework have been widely used to investigate human-nature relationships and orient landscape planning and management. However, ecosystem disservices (EDS) and their influence on how people interact with ecosystems have received less attention. Objective: We aimed at assessing people's preferences and perceptions of forest ES and EDS in three contrasted case studies. In the meantime, it aims at discussing the potential of considering both ES and EDS in landscape preference and sociocultural valuation studies. Methods: Interviews with stakeholders were conducted in an agroforestry landscape (France), in the Atlantic Forest and in the Pampa grasslands (Brazil). Identified ES and EDS were classified into a common typology and analyzed through discourse analysis and quantitative methods to assess the variability in ES/EDS perceptions among respondents and among forest types. Results: Respondents cited 19 ES classes and 11 EDS classes, with strong variability among case studies. Contrasted perceptions and preferences among respondents were revealed. In the agroforestry landscape, EDS were particularly emphasized by people and contributed to the variability in people's perceptions. In the Atlantic forest landscape, forested areas tended to contrast based on cultural ecosystem services. In the Pampa case study, EDS were particularly salient in people's preferences concerning exotic forest plantations. Conclusions: This study suggests that different types of forested areas produce specific ES/EDS, suggesting their complementarity at the landscape scale. The combination of ES and EDS therefore offers a promising research avenue for more consistent ES sociocultural valuations and for improving management recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diverse in nature, style, and approach, life histories enjoy a rich and established position within the broader narrative and qualitative research traditions. Nevertheless, such a position may be rendered considerably more complicated given new technologies and post-humanist developments. Rather than shy away from such new complexities, the life history field, it is argued, should embrace these developments and explore the fertile ground that might well lie at the intersections of the postqualitative, Indigenous, and place-based turns. What happens when "place" becomes the central character—the complex, entangled protagonist—of a life history focus? Exploring just such a re-imagining, this article examines the potential for creating fecund new ground for a life history of place. As a concrete example—although perhaps an unlikely source for inspiration—Phil Jenkins's An Acre of Time: The Enduring Value of Place will be offered as a potential prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

360-degree video is an immersive technology used in research across academic disciplines. This paper provides the first comprehensive review on the use of 360-degree video for virtual place-based research, highlighting its use in experimental, experiential, and environmental observation studies. Five key research domains for 360-degree video are described: tourism and cultural heritage; built environment and land use; natural environment; health and wellbeing; and transportation and safety. 360-degree video offers considerable advantages compared to unidirectional video, computer-generated virtual reality, and map-based geographic representation. Benefits include ease of use, low-cost, interactivity, sense of immersive realism, remote accessibility, and the ability to capture and analyze places in a fully panoramic field of view. Limitations include additional costs associated with virtual reality viewing technologies, simulation sickness and discomfort, and viewer distraction due to the technology's novelty and immersive affordances. This paper also outlines a future research agenda, including the possibility of moving beyond the 'testing and trialling' of 360-degree video since it provides novel research opportunities distinct from either 'real' experience or conventional forms of visual and spatial representation. Overall, this paper provides detailed evidence for researchers interested in using 360-degree video for virtual research on built, social, and natural environments and human-environment interactions. • 360-degree video is a novel technology for virtual place-based research. • This review represents the first synthesis of evidence across research domains. • Rapid growth is attributed to increasing availability of cameras and VR technology. • This review identifies 5 key thematic research areas for 360-degree video. • Advantages over video and other forms of geographic and representation are documented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are three main themes in this self-reflective essay, and I hope they are thought-provoking without being pretentious. The first is the topic of scientific specialization. How do we steer a course between being a dilettante on one hand, dabbling in everything without making major contributions in any field, and on the other hand being a specialist who digs deeply but too narrowly? The second theme is the concept of specialization with respect to place, and the study of natural history. It can be incredibly rewarding, both personally and professionally, to develop a rich ecological understanding of a particular place such as a field station. However, this requires a great commitment of time, and it reduces mobility and experience elsewhere. The third theme is the importance of mentoring and the transfer of encouragement and opportunity from one cohort to the next. I will address these three themes in this order but they are closely linked to each other, making the separation somewhat artificial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing the challenges of environmental and social changes, sustainable management of ecosystem services is a worldwide priority. The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) approach provides a unique opportunity for promoting transdisciplinary place-based comparative research for social-ecological systems (SES) management. As part of the PECS-sponsored WaterSES project, we used four place-based SES research sites to analyze patterns in perceptions of ecosystem services. Our data come from about 1,500 face-to-face surveys conducted in southern Spain, the south-central Great Plains of Oklahoma (USA), and the Portneuf and Treasure Valleys, Idaho (USA). Specifically, this study aimed to (1) describe and compare perceptions of ecosystem services within and across SES sites, (2) explore how perceptions of ecosystem services vary among local respondents and by sociodemographic factors, and (3) evaluate the overall relationship between place-based SES contexts and ecosystem service perceptions. Our results revealed that cultural ecosystem services were the most highly mentioned among those surveyed across all four sites. However, we found differences in how ecosystem services were perceived among the four SES contexts. For instance, both, social (e.g., gender, education) and local ecological (e.g., land use and climate) characteristics play roles in influencing people's perceptions of which services are important. Overall, our findings suggest the relationship between people's perceptions of ecosystem services and their social-environmental context is complex, which highlights the value of the PECS approach for crafting more effective and inclusive landscape management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is conceptual confusion in academic scholarship regarding Indigenous research methodologies and decolonising research methodologies. Scholars view these paradigms as similar yet distinct, but very few seek to define that distinction. In this article, I explore the relationship between these approaches to academic research. Both paradigms emphasise the need to transform the academy because of its tendency to marginalise non-Western epistemologies. Transformation requires the interconnection and co-ordination of many paradigms including Indigenous, feminist, and antiracist approaches to research. I propose viewing Indigenous and decolonising research methodologies as a relationship, and suggest both are dynamic practices that do not exist outside of the people who use them. What they look like and how they relate to one another will depend upon who uses them, why they are used, and where they are practiced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article combines data from two research projects to examine teacher activism in two places sometimes framed as “terrible cities.” Drawing from critical place inquiry, critical urban studies, and border thinking, we analyze media discourses and interviews with two Latinx teacher activists. Our analysis shows that the focal teachers explicitly rejected colonizing global designs by engaging in context-specific and multifaceted praxis to envision and enact alternative urban placemaking. Extending teacher activism scholarship beyond global cities, we contribute to educational research on these under-documented places and add to the growing body of research that centers Latinx teacher-activists’ agency and resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, government directives for health and community services focused on building capacity for COVID-19 safe behaviors. During 2020-2021, there was mounting pressure to increase vaccination numbers to boost population-wide immunity, thereby enabling the lessening of pandemic response restrictions. The Australian population, in general, faced communication hurdles in understanding COVID-19, government directives and policies, and health initiatives. This was particularly challenging given the rapid changes in disease behaviors and community response requirements. This community case study documents local experience in delivering information about COVID-19 safety and vaccination to a former refugee community (the Karen community) in regional Victoria. Community outreach and codesign approaches established closer engagement between the Karen community and Bendigo Community Health Services (BCHS). This case study is explored through semi-structured interviews conducted face-to-face and via videoconferencing with key Karen community leaders, Karen community members, vaccination clinic volunteers, and BCHS staff and bicultural workers. A hybrid approach that employed community outreach and codesign approaches in tandem built trust and closer ties between the Karen community and BCHS, leading to increased understanding and compliance with COVID-19 safe messages and vaccination uptake. Community-led innovations included codesign of COVID-19 fact sheets and videos in the Karen language, involvement of "local champions," assisting Karen businesses with COVID-19 safe plans, and creation of a COVID-19 information hotline. The latter was facilitated by BCHS bicultural staff. These innovations supported the delivery of vaccination clinics at the local Karen Temple. Embedding multi-level, tailored, and responsive public health approaches is particularly important in complex settings where there are disproportionately high levels of community disadvantage, as occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Davis, Elmer, Graves and Learmonth.)

Participatory scenario planning (PSP) is an increasingly popular tool in place-based environmental research for evaluating alternative futures of social-ecological systems. Although a range of guidelines on PSP methods are available in the scientific and grey literature, there is a need to reflect on existing practices and their appropriate application for different objectives and contexts at the local scale, as well as on their potential perceived outcomes. We contribute to theoretical and empirical frameworks by analyzing how and why researchers assess social-ecological systems using place-based PSP, hence facilitating the appropriate uptake of such scenario tools in the future. We analyzed 23 PSP case studies conducted by the authors in a wide range of social-ecological settings by exploring seven aspects: (1) the context; (2) the original motivations and objectives; (3) the methodological approach; (4) the process; (5) the content of the scenarios; (6) the outputs of the research; and (7) the monitoring and evaluation of the PSP process. This was complemented by a reflection on strengths and weaknesses of using PSP for the place-based social-ecological research. We conclude that the application of PSP, particularly when tailored to shared objectives between local people and researchers, has enriched environmental management and scientific research through building common understanding and fostering learning about future planning of social-ecological systems. However, PSP still requires greater systematic monitoring and evaluation to assess its impact on the promotion of collective action for transitions to sustainability and the adaptation to global environmental change and its challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As health threats appear with increasing regularity in our food systems and other food crises loom worldwide, we look to rural areas to provide local and nutritious foods. Educationally, we seek approaches to food studies that engage students and their communities and, ultimately, lead to positive action. Yet food studies receive only generic coverage and tangential attention within existing curricula. This article, reporting a pilot study located at Canada's geographic and cultural edge, focuses on local knowledge about past and present food practices. Objectives are to test pedagogies that bring all students greater opportunities for engagement and learning about their physical environment and food history, and that can be applied to rural and, with modifications, urban settings. Three critical, place-base pedagogical approaches — experiential, discovery and arts-based — to classroom teaching and learning are discussed, as well as implications for educational leadership, teacher training and curriculum development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent research indicates increasing openness among conservation experts toward a set of previously controversial proposals for biodiversity protection. These include actions such as assisted migration, and the application of climate-change-informed triage principles for decision-making (e.g., forgoing attention to target species deemed no longer viable). Little is known however, about the levels of expert agreement across different conservation adaptation actions, or the preferences that may come to shape policy recommendations. In this paper, we report findings from a web-based survey of biodiversity experts that assessed: (1) perceived risks of climate change (and other drivers) to biodiversity, (2) relative importance of different conservation goals, (3) levels of agreement/disagreement with the potential necessity of unconventional-taboo actions and approaches including affective evaluations of these, (4) preferences regarding the most important adaptation action for biodiversity, and (5) perceived barriers and strategic considerations regarding implement-ing adaptation initiatives. We found widespread agreement with a set of previously contentious approaches and actions, including the need for frameworks for prioritization and decision-making that take expected losses and emerging novel ecosystems into consideration. Simultaneously, this survey found enduring preferences for conventional actions (such as protected areas) as the most important policy action, and negative affective responses toward more interventionist proposals. We argue that expert views are converging on agreement across a set of taboo components in ways that differ from earlier published positions, and that these views are tempered by preferences for existing conventional actions and discomfort toward interventionist options. We discuss these findings in the context of anticipating some of the likely contours of future conservation debates. Lastly, we underscore the critical need for interdisciplinary, comparative, place-based adaptation research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a place-based research demonstration program to promote and sustain employment among residents of selected public housing developments in six U.S. cities. Because all eligible residents of the participating public housing developments were free to take part in the program, it was not possible to study its impacts in a classical experiment, with random assignment of individual residents to the program or a control group. Instead, the impact analysis is based on a design that selected matched groups of two or three public housing developments in each participating city and randomly assigned one to the program and the other(s) to a control group. In addition, an eleven-year comparative interrupted time-series analysis is being used to strengthen the place-based random assignment design. Preliminary analyses of baseline data suggest that this two-pronged approach will provide credible estimates of program impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]