{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,18]],"date-time":"2026-06-18T14:18:55Z","timestamp":1781792335975,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2006,6,1]],"date-time":"2006-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1149120000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Environ Plan A"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2006,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>In this paper we explore the practice of interdisciplinarity by examining how the UK research councils addressed the problem of the sustainable city during the 1990s. In developing their research programmes, the councils recognised that the problems of the sustainable city transcended conventional disciplinary boundaries and that an interdisciplinary approach was needed. In practice, however, initially radical proposals to research the city as a complex combination of science and technology and society contracted into more cognate collaborations that emphasised either science or technology or society, with the result that interdisciplinarity came to be located within research councils rather than between them. This, in turn, led to the development of a third kind of interdisciplinarity as the responsibility for making the connections between the research programmes was outsourced to the user communities\u2014the local authorities. Unfortunately, local authorities struggled to find the resources to conduct this work so that the radical interdisciplinarity recommended at the start of the decade remained unaccomplished at the end. In describing these events we emphasise roles of paradigms and epistemic cultures in shaping research approaches and the complications they raise for the triangulation between approaches that is assumed in the idea of interdisciplinarity. We do not wish to be entirely negative, however, and conclude by suggesting some ways in which the quality and success of this much-needed interdisciplinary work could be increased.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1068\/a37317","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2006,6,2]],"date-time":"2006-06-02T05:57:03Z","timestamp":1149227823000},"page":"1009-1028","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":60,"title":["Researching the Sustainable City: Three Modes of Interdisciplinarity"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"38","author":[{"given":"Robert","family":"Evans","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3WT, Wales"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Simon","family":"Marvin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Sustainable Urban and Regional Futures, CUBE, 113-115 Portland Street, Manchester M1 6FB, England"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2006,6,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-a37317","volume-title":"Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity","author":"Beck U","year":"1992"},{"key":"bibr2-a37317","volume-title":"Towards the Civilised City: Scoping Study","author":"Berret B","year":"1991"},{"key":"bibr3-a37317","volume-title":"Social Research Methods","author":"Bryman A","year":"2004","edition":"2"},{"key":"bibr4-a37317","volume-title":"Cities and Sustainability","author":"Clean Technology Unit","year":"1992"},{"key":"bibr5-a37317","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0306312702032002003"},{"key":"bibr6-a37317","volume-title":"\u201cManagement audit of the Sustainable Cities Research Programme\u201d","author":"Cooper I","year":"1997"},{"key":"bibr7-a37317","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0016-3287(93)90022-L"},{"key":"bibr8-a37317","volume-title":"The New Production of Knowledge: The Dynamics of Science and Research in Contemporary Societies","author":"Gibbons M","year":"1994"},{"key":"bibr9-a37317","volume-title":"The Consequences of Modernity","author":"Giddens A","year":"1990"},{"key":"bibr10-a37317","volume-title":"The Politics of Environmental Discourse: Ecological Modernisation and the Policy Process","author":"Hajer M","year":"1995"},{"key":"bibr11-a37317","volume-title":"Sustainable Cities","author":"Haughton G","year":"1994"},{"key":"bibr12-a37317","volume-title":"Science, Social Theory and Public Knowledge","author":"Irwin A","year":"2003"},{"key":"bibr13-a37317","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4135\/9781412990127"},{"key":"bibr14-a37317","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226458106.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr15-a37317","unstructured":"LARCI, 2000, Report of a Conference on\n                      Communities 2000: The Local Government Research Agenda\n                      Local Authority Research Council Initiative, Economic and Social Research Council, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1UJ"},{"key":"bibr16-a37317","volume-title":"\u201cA review of progress: A new way forward\u201d","author":"LARCI","year":"2002"},{"key":"bibr17-a37317","volume-title":"Re-Thinking Science: Knowledge and the Public in an Age of Uncertainty","author":"Nowotny H","year":"2001"},{"key":"bibr18-a37317","volume-title":"Managing Technology in Society: The Approach of Constructive Technology Assessment","author":"Rip A","year":"1995"},{"key":"bibr19-a37317","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/09537320120040482"},{"key":"bibr20-a37317","volume-title":"The Idea of a Social Science and its Relationship to Philosophy","author":"Winch P","year":"1958"},{"key":"bibr21-a37317","volume-title":"Philosophical Investigations","author":"Wittgenstein L","year":"1953"}],"container-title":["Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1068\/a37317","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1068\/a37317","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,28]],"date-time":"2026-04-28T21:43:28Z","timestamp":1777412608000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1068\/a37317"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2006,6]]},"references-count":21,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2006,6]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1068\/a37317"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1068\/a37317","relation":{},"ISSN":["0308-518X","1472-3409"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0308-518X","type":"print"},{"value":"1472-3409","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2006,6]]}}}