Participatory action research to address sustainability challenges: barriers and solutions

Abstract

Participatory Action Research (PAR) offers a context-specific approach to sustainability challenges that enables citizens and other stakeholders to co-research a shared complex issue and co-create and co-realize suitable action plans. Promising results from using PAR to address sustainability challenges have been reported in the literature, but as yet the approach is not widely used. To understand contextual barriers to implementing PAR and find potential solutions, we interviewed sustainability experts in the Netherlands with PAR experience or otherwise connected to PAR. We found a variety of barriers for different actors operating within organizations dealing with sustainability issues, and we identified potential solutions to remove them. We propose four solution pathways (Systemic Autonomy, Practical, Systemic Inspirational, and Awareness) for PAR practitioners and proponents, each referring to one type of actor. By identifying these barriers and solutions we aim to inspire more holistic perspectives on, and support for, the application of PAR to address complex sustainability problems.

Keywords: Complex sustainability issues; Environmental governance; Implementation barriers; Participatory action research; solutions.