Among Institutions, Spaces and Networks: Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Realms in the American Continent

Abstract

Why think in terms of institutions? Institutional factors are usually blamed for hindering interdisciplinary initiatives. This issue of INTERdisciplina presents a different perspective in which institutions are reconceptualized as social constructs (Ostrom 1990, 1995) that have contributed —and continue to contribute— towards the development of interdisciplinarity. Within this framework, universities become privileged realms as they create spaces in which there is freedom to generate conceptual and organizational innovations that pave the way to new forms of knowledge production (Weingart, 2014).