Bridging senses of place and mobilities scholarships to inform social-ecological systems governance: A research agenda

Sarah Gottwald, Iga Kołodyńska, Matthias Buchecker, Andrés Di Masso, Nora Fagerholm, Maciej Frąckowiak, Viola Hakkarainen, Katarzyna Kajdanek, Ursula Lau, Lynne C. Manzo, Stefan Ortiz-Przychodzka, Jasmine Pearson, Tara Quinn, Łukasz Rogowski, Richard Stedman, William P. Stewart, Agnieszka Trąbka, Daniel R. Williams, Timo von Wirth, Jakub ZawieskaChristopher M. Raymond

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Uncertainty and change are increasingly commonplace as communities respond to impacts of social-ecological change including climate change, and dangerous levels of pollution. Given the extent of these crises, new approaches are needed to support responses. Here we identify challenges and discuss insights that the nexus of Senses of place (SoP) and mobilities research offers in navigating such uncertainty. We conducted a two-round Delphi, followed by a workshop, and collaborative writing process with a global network of researchers with expertise in either or both SoP and mobilities research. Participants identified five challenges at the place-mobility nexus that emerge when a social-ecological system is disrupted. We use the 2022 Odra River fish die-off to exemplify the identified challenges: 1) accounting for power dynamics, inequalities and motility; 2) doing justice to more-than human actors; 3) integrating multiple and sometimes nested spatial scales; 4) considering temporalities of place and mobilities, and 5) embracing multisensoriality. To address these challenges, we recommend drawing on diverse methods and knowledge co-creation processes that combine more-than-human perspectives, multisensoriality, and engage in the dynamic relations between places to understand people-place disruptions in the face of socio-spatial precarity. Addressing such knowledge gaps requires stronger collaboration of mobilities and place researchers.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number103286
JournalApplied Geography
Volume167
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2024

Keywords

  • Ecological catastrophe
  • Mobilities
  • Odra river
  • Research agenda
  • Senses of place
  • Social-ecological systems

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Forestry
  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • General Environmental Science
  • Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management

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