Memento 1
Economics, social economy, social innovation, … in urban and regional development
Trained as a quantitative economist in the 1970s – specializing first in international migration studies, then in macro-economics and income distribution effects – I turned to regional and urban economics in the mid-1980s. In this field, innovation was considered a central tool in development strategies and policy. Starting in the 1990s, together with Erik Swyngedouw, Farid Sekia, Jacques Nussbaumer, Flavia Martinelli, Bob Jessop and Abid Mehmood I took on deconstructing Territorial Innovation Models and focused on the social, political and cultural dynamics of local development. We filled in the cultural vacuum left by mainstream regional and local growth models.
We pointed out the technological and neoliberal bias of these models and developed several alternatives, positioning social innovation and democratic governance as central concepts. Our urban research in the 1990s and early 2000s brought together evidence suggesting that urban policy should be built from the neighbourhood level upward.
Selected bibliography
Moulaert, F., Sekia, F. (2003). Territorial innovation models: A critical survey. Regional studies, 37(3): 289–302.
Jessop, B., Moulaert, F., Hulgård, L., & Hamdouch, A. (2013). Social innovation research: a new stage in innovation analysis. The international handbook on social innovation: Collective action, social learning and transdisciplinary research, (pp. 110–130). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Swyngedouw, E., Moulaert, F., & Rodriguez, A. (2002). Neoliberal urbanization in Europe: Large-scale urban development projects and the New Urban Policy. Antipode, 34(3), 542–577. Open Access
Moulaert, F., Martinelli, F., Swyngedouw, E., & Gonzalez, S. (2005). Towards alternative model(s) of local innovation. Urban Studies, 42(11), 1969–1990.
Moulaert, F., Jessop, B., & Mehmood, A. (2016). Agency, structure, institutions, discourse (ASID) in urban and regional development. International Journal of Urban Sciences, 20(2), 167–187.
Memento 2
From econometrics to qualitative case-study research
My focus on philosophy, philosophy of science and research methods, as well as my empirical research on migration, neighbourhood and regional development, drove my interest in adopting methods of qualitative analysis, case-study research and grounded theory. Quantitative methods such as econometrics put too much stress on correlation. Yet correlation between variables only points at potential causality, focuses too much on average behaviour and neglects the meaning of outliers and undervalues the qualitative features of causal relations. Qualitative case-study research offers alternatives to overcome these weaknesses.
Selected bibliography
Moulaert, F., & Leontidou, L. (1995). Localités déintégrées et stratégies de lutte contre la pauvreté: une réflexion méthodologique post-moderne. Espaces et Sociétés, 78, 35–53.
Moulaert, F. (2000). Globalization and Integrated Area Development in European Cities. Oxford University Press.
Moulaert, F., & Nussbaumer, J. (2005). Defining the social economy and its governance at the neighbourhood level: A methodological reflection. Urban Studies, 42(11), 2071–2088.
Moulaert, F., Rodriguez, A., & Swyngedouw, E. (2003). The Globalized City. Economic Restructuring and Social Polarization in European Cities. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 0-19-926040-0.
Memento 3
Interdisciplinarity and dialogical epistemology in Socially Innovative Action Research
A thirty-year research trajectory on local development has taught us valuable life lessons: never do it by yourself, never do it solely with researchers, tap into different disciplines (their theories and methods) and let theory and (action) empirical research continuously talk to each other, … Learning from these lessons has allowed us to use theory – in the form of meta-theory – as a key instrument to build analytical and action frameworks, to organize feedback between action and empirical research, to valorize and share research results, to give research a strategic place in academic pedagogy, … Important here is the application of socially innovative ethics in the building, governance and operation of research consortia.
Selected bibliography
Moulaert, F., & Mehmood, A. (2020). Towards a social innovation (SI) based epistemology in local development analysis: lessons from twenty years of EU research. European Planning Studies, 28(3), 434–453. doi: 10.1080/09654313.2019.1639401
Moulaert, F., & MacCallum, D. (2019). Advanced introduction to social innovation. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-78536-039-8
Martinelli, F., Moulaert, F., & Novy, A. (Eds.). (2013). Urban and regional development trajectories in contemporary capitalism. Routledge.
Moulaert, F., Mehmood, A., MacCallum, D., & Leubolt, B. (2017). Social innovation as a trigger for transformations-the role of research. Publications Office of the European Union.
Moulaert, F., & Mehmood, A. (2014). Towards Social Holism: Social innovation, holistic research methodology and pragmatic collective action in spatial planning. In The Routledge Handbook of Planning Research Methods (pp. 97–106). Routledge.
Memento 4
Landed Commons and Commoning
For a while now, research on Commons and Commoning has been back on stage. Within our research trajectory, the (re)building of land and nature as Commons (Landed Commons, we named them) has occupied a preeminent place. Globalization and privatization have reinforced the privatization of land, thus creating acute scarcity of land for (social) housing, public space, nature reserves and (ecological) agriculture. In recent work we did empirical and action research on contemporary Landed Commons in several continents. We also used our thirty-year-long experience in Social Innovation Action Research to provide a socio-ecological content to Commoning.
Selected bibliography
Parra, C., & Moulaert, F. (2016). The governance of the nature-culture nexus: Lessons learned from the San Pedro de Atacama case study. Nature and Culture, 11(3), 239–258.
Manganelli, A., Van den Broeck, P., & Moulaert, F. (2020). Socio-political dynamics of alternative food networks: a hybrid governance approach. Territory, Politics, Governance, 8(3), 299–318.
Van den Broeck, P., Sadiq, A., Hiergens, I., Molina, M. Q., Verschure, H., & Moulaert, F. (Eds.). (2020). Communities, Land and Social Innovation: Land Taking and Land Making in an Urbanising World. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Kuhk, A., Holemans, D., & Van den Broeck, P. (Eds.). (2018). Op grond van samenwerking: woningen, voedsel en trage wegen als heruitgevonden commons. Epo.
Memento 5
From Participatory pedagogy to Action Research
In 1987, when I started working at the University of Lille and at the request of an Erasmus network founded by Louis Albrechts and Phil Cooke at the University of Leuven, I created a three month international PhD training module (today called the International Module in Spatial Development Planning, IMSDP).
This module promotes an alternative pedagogy based on three interactive components: (i) a research seminar exclusively devoted to the PhD research projects; (ii) teaching modules customized to PhD student needs; (iii) intensive interaction between students and tutors.
The Module moved with me to Newcastle in 2003 and then to the University of Leuven in 2008. As of the early 2000s, Action Research became a prominent ingredient of the IMSDP module with active participation in the Social Innovation Research projects and local Action Research projects.
An important ethical principle learned from social innovation practice is that a research team working on social innovation should also work together in a socially innovative way: communication and decision-making in full mutual respect, mutual support, reflection and evaluation moments with equal voice for all participants.
Selected bibliography
A manifesto for a Better Post-COVID-19 World. https://kuleuven.limo.libis.be/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=lirias3443510&vid=32KUL_KUL:Lirias&context=SearchWebhook&adaptor=SearchWebhook&search_scope=lirias_profile&tab=LIRIAS
The website https://insist.earth contains several cahiers covering cases and approaches of Action Research, mostly led by graduate students.
Memento 6
Spatial planning through Action Research
Years of experience in local (community) development research and practice has been applied in planning (action) research and practice. Participatory planning – paying lip service to different opinions, public authorities and real estate actors – has been replaced by activating fieldwork, local mobilization and political activism. Diversification of media used in planning processes has helped give a voice to voiceless citizens and led to more inclusive communication and decision-making.
Selected bibliography
Kuhk, A., Heynen, H., Huybrechts, L., Schreurs, J., & Moulaert, F. (2019). Participatiegolven: Dialogen over ruimte, planning en ontwerp in Vlaanderen en Brussel (p. 346). Leuven University Press.
Oosterlynck, S., Van Den Broeck, J., Albrechts, L., Moulaert, F., & Verhetsel, A. (2011). Strategic spatial projects. Catalysts for Change, Taylor and Francis.
Segers, R., Van den Broeck, P., Khan, Ahmed Z., Moulaert, F., Schreurs, J., De Meulder, B., Miciukiewicz, K., Vigar, G., & Madanipour, A. (2016). The SPINDUS Handbook of Spatial Quality. Academic and Scientific Publishers.
The website https://insist.earth contains several cahiers covering cases and approaches of Spatial Planning through Action Research.