Abstract

Contemporary urban mobility challenges are characterized by complexity, uncertainty, instability, uniqueness and value conflict. In these situations, professionals cannot just rely on technical rationality or advocacy. The assumptions of objectivity and neutrality of technical rationality do not hold, and advocacy denies the autonomous contribution of expert knowledge. Professionals must rather engage in what Donald Schon once termed a ‘reflective conversation with the situation’: identifying problems and exploring solutions, progressively and tentatively, in close interaction with those involved.

At the University of Amsterdam we have been exploring an approach to research inspired by this logic. We have shifted the emphasis from doing research for practice to doing research with practice. We see researchers as enablers of ‘reflective practices’, and professionals as enablers of ‘practicable reflections’. The approach is strongly interactive and iterative, with continuous feedback between theoretical development and practical application, formulation and verification of concepts.

During the lecture, illustrative examples of our approach to research will be presented. In the discussion some of its distinctive opportunities, limits and necessary conditions will be highlighted.

Biography

Luca Bertolini is a licensed architect and planner and member of the Dutch Association of Planners and Urban Designers (BNSP). He is a professor in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Amsterdam and Scientific Director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies. He focusses on the integration of transport and urban planning for humane, sustainable and just cities, concepts and practices to enable transformative urban and mobility change, and ways of enhancing collaboration across different academic disciplines and between academia and society.