Understanding problem structuring methods interventions with activity theory

• Main Author: Burger, Katharina Maria
• Published: University of Bristol 2015
• Subjects: 624
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.702229

This research aims to explicate how Problem Structuring Methods Interventions (PSMI) can be understood as practical accomplishments. Activity Theory (AT) is presented as a practice-based approach to re-establish connections between problem structuring methods and socio-cultural-technical environments which are seen as mutually constitutive. An exploratory approach is developed to inquire into opportunities for social learning that are afforded by PSMIs which are entangled in multi-sited and multi-temporal socio-technical transitions. An ethnographic case study of a project in the area of sustainable city district redevelopment is presented. Video data was collected during two PSMI workshops. The data was complemented by in-depth interviews, project documentation and participant observation. The analysis of model-mediated in-situ interactions during the observed PSMIs suggests that processes of appropriation, transformation and co-creation took place. However, the findings also highlight the local, idiosyncratic and contingent characteristics of interactions during PSMIs. The inquiry into relations between the in-situ dynamics and the PSMIs in context indicates that the development of co-constructive and relational problem structuring processes in practice is an ongoing challenge. The research concludes that problem structuring methods interventions can be understood as the practical accomplishment of problem (infra)structuring.