The largest meeting of geographers (the American Association of Geographers) in North America wrapped up in New York City last Tuesday, after five days of intense panel discussions, paper presentations, and poster sessions. As is often the case with geographers, sessions were as diverse and inter-disciplinary as the individuals who comprise this ‘discipline.’ Themes ranged from ethnic population change in the US, to cyberinfrastructure development, sexual politics, and contemporary nomads. I participated in a fascinating session on communicating about climate change adaptation, as well as a series of panels and paper presentations on climate change experimentations in cities. These sessions gathered together a range of stellar scholars, including Susi Moser, Max Boykoff, Emily Boyd, Harriet Bulkeley, James Evans, and JoAnn Carmin.
Running through these intense debates was a particularly interesting theme of great relevance to the MC3 project: that of transformative change. The communities of research and practice are clearly struggling to understand the extent to which rapidly multiplying climate change policies, strategies, and legislative tools hold to the potential to dramatically alter fundamentally unsustainable development paths. What defines a climate change ‘experiment’? To what extent are these experiments embedded in deeper patterns of institution-technology relationships, worldviews, and politics? Can experiments be transplanted to new locations, taken up by new actors, and accelerated to meet a suite a pressing priorities? What role do scholars play in actually facilitating this change, or is action (rather than theory, or study) best left to non-governmental organizations and practitioners?
These questions are at the core of the MC3 project, as we design and execute action-oriented research that is both rigorous and relevant to the evolving needs of communities. I think this team will agree that scholars can carry out both careful research and thoughtful action, but this requires a process of reflection and dialogue that is unusual in the academic community.
Sarah Burch