Transdisciplinary Synthesis Research in Unruly Environments: Reflecting on a Case Study of Vulnerability and Urban Fishing in the American Gulf Coast

Lauren Drakopulos,Sarita Panchang,Lian Guo,Zach Koehn,Dustin Robertson,Meghna N Marjadi

doi:10.1162/00c13b77.0c274823

Abstract

Transdisciplinary research (TR) is valuable for studying complex environmental health issues. Paying attention to how practices ‘on the ground’ can - and should - inform policy and planning requires disrupting the silos in which these entities frequently operate. Yet in practice, bridging disparate fields of inquiry towards a common goal is a difficult task, and few empirical examples exist to guide researchers interested in using TR to examine environmental health issues in real-world contexts. In this paper, we reflect on the design and execution of a collaborative, transdisciplinary project that examines localized effects of urban and environmental governance on urban subsistence fishing as a foodway with key health implications. We first review the socio-environmental literatures on urban fishing to outline the utility of TR. Next, we present our TR synthesis, which integrates secondary data from federal, state, and municipal agencies in two U.S. Gulf Coast metropolitan areas, including a subset of results to demonstrate TR in action. Finally, we critically reflect on our TR experience in relation to corresponding theory, allowing insight into the strengths and drawbacks of utilizing TR in practice. Benefits include a more holistic linkage of complex socio-environmental components, the illumination of power dynamics between stakeholders, and the co-creation of knowledge in a multidisciplinary research team. The challenges we faced highlight issues of translation across disciplinary methods when framing research questions and when integrating data sources collected for different sectoral purposes. In particular, we discuss the role of synthesis - the triangulation of diverse secondary sources - to the practice of TR. We share these lessons to inform further integrated research on the relationships between place-based health, urban development, and environmental equity.

Highlights

Transdisciplinary urban health research: Pathways and roadblocksTransdisciplinary research (TR) is a framework uniquely suited to grappling with contemporary environmental health problems that are situated within social and environmental dimensions, and span regulatory, geographic, and political scales (Gehlert et al 2010; 412)
We reflect on the design of a collaborative, TR synthesis project on urban governance and environmental policy practices affecting the health of urban subsistence fishers in the United States Southern Gulf Coast, undertaken by the authors: six doctoral students from different disciplines
While we do not assume the results of our study will be nationally representative, they illustrate important dynamics between environmental management, urbanization, and fishing occurring in the United States (USA)

Summary

Introduction

Transdisciplinary research (TR) is a framework uniquely suited to grappling with contemporary environmental health problems that are situated within social and environmental dimensions, and span regulatory, geographic, and political scales (Gehlert et al 2010; 412). While it is clear that TR holds great potential for addressing links between social, environmental, and health problems, more empirical and critical reflections are needed to demonstrate how TR can tackle societal issues “as they manifest in their messy, social, and physical contexts” (Carew and Wickson 2010: 1146) To fill this gap, we reflect on the design of a collaborative, TR synthesis project on urban governance and environmental policy practices affecting the health of urban subsistence fishers in the United States Southern Gulf Coast, undertaken by the authors: six doctoral students from different disciplines (geography, public health, ecology, fisheries science, and urban studies). While we do not assume the results of our study will be nationally representative, they illustrate important dynamics between environmental management, urbanization, and fishing occurring in the USA

Empirical methods

Findings

Conclusion