Within this webinar held on May 2nd, Amanda Jiménez-Aceituno and María D. López-Rodríguez introduced some of the research activities that were developed in the XPaths project. XPaths aims to create inclusive pathways to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in arid regions. Focusing on the work developed in the drylands of South-East Spain, they present some methods conducted to co-create sustainable pathways towards the future in this region. In particular, experience using the scenario-building method of Three Horizons, which has been adapted to address a variety of SDGs (3H4SDGs).
Methodologically, the 3H4SDGs relies on a structured and deliberative process that combines conventional research approaches to knowledge co-creation (e.g., mental models and conceptual diagrams) with art-based methods (e.g., music and theatre of the oppressed techniques). The webinar aimed to spark the discussion about the advantages and potential limitations of employing such a combination of methods to engage stakeholders in sustainability transformations. The insights shed light on how coupling conventional cognitive tools with art-based techniques can help expand epistemologies towards practical, embodied, and emotional domains in transdisciplinary and transformations research. Thank you to the speakers and participants for engaging in this webinar!
María D. López Rodríguez works as a postdoctoral researcher at SociECOS Lab at the University of Almería in Spain and visits Leuphana as a guest at SESI from April to May 2023 within the tdAcademy’s Guest and Fellowship Programme funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung.
Amanda Jiménez-Aceituno is a sustainability researcher at Social-Ecological Systems Institute (SESI) at Leuphana University, Lüneburg and at Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden.