Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Via Mesiano 77, 38123 Trento, Italy.
Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Via Mesiano 77, 38123 Trento, Italy.
Sci Total Environ. 2017 Sep 1;593-594:274-285. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.03.121. Epub 2017 Mar 24.
Boundary work, defined as effort to mediate between knowledge and action, is a promising approach for facilitating knowledge co-production for sustainable development. Here, we investigate a case study of knowledge co-production, to assess the applicability of boundary work as a conceptual framework to support implementing adaptive management in the water sector. We refer to a boundary work classification recently proposed by Clark et al., (2016), based on three types of knowledge uses, i.e. enlightenment, decision-, and negotiation-support, and three types of sources, i.e. personal expertise, single, and multiple communities of expertise. Our empirical results confirm boundary work has been crucial for the three types of knowledge use. For enlightenment and decision-support, effective interaction among knowledge producers and users was achieved through diverse boundary work practices, including joint agenda setting, and sharing of data and expertise. This initial boundary work eased subsequent knowledge co-production for decision-support and negotiations, in combination with stepping up of cooperation between relevant actors, suitable legislation and pressure for problem solving. Our analysis highlighted the temporal dimension matters - building trust around enlightenment first, and then using this as a basis for managing knowledge co-production for decision-, and negotiation support. We reconfirmed that boundary work is not a single time achievement, rather is a dynamic process, and we emphasized the importance of key actors driving the process, such as water utilities. Our results provide a rich case study of how strategic boundary work can facilitate knowledge co-production for adaptive management in the water sector. The boundary work practices employed here could also be transferred to other cases. Water utilities, as intermediaries between providers and beneficiaries of the important water-related ecosystem service of clean water provision, can indeed serve as key actors for initiating such boundary work practices.
边界工作，即努力在知识和行动之间进行协调，是促进可持续发展知识共同生产的一种很有前途的方法。在这里，我们研究了一个知识共同生产的案例，以评估边界工作作为一个概念框架来支持在水部门实施适应性管理的适用性。我们参考了 Clark 等人（2016 年）最近提出的边界工作分类，该分类基于三种知识用途，即启蒙、决策-和谈判支持，以及三种来源，即个人专长、单一和多个专长社区。我们的实证结果证实，边界工作对于三种知识用途都至关重要。对于启蒙和决策支持，通过多样化的边界工作实践，包括联合议程设置以及数据和专业知识的共享，实现了知识生产者和使用者之间的有效互动。这种最初的边界工作为决策支持和谈判的后续知识共同生产提供了便利，同时加强了相关行为者之间的合作、适当的立法和解决问题的压力。我们的分析强调了时间维度的重要性——首先围绕启蒙建立信任，然后利用这一基础来管理决策和谈判支持的知识共同生产。我们再次确认，边界工作不是一次性的成就，而是一个动态的过程，我们强调了关键行为者推动这一过程的重要性，例如水务公司。我们的结果提供了一个关于战略边界工作如何促进水部门适应性管理知识共同生产的丰富案例研究。这里采用的边界工作实践也可以转移到其他案例中。水务公司作为清洁水供应这一重要水相关生态系统服务的提供者和受益者之间的中介，可以作为发起这种边界工作实践的关键行为者。
