INQUIRING THE EVERYDAY – learning from Action Research to intervene in autonomous, spatial transformation processes

Abstract

Haspengouw (Belgium) is a region characterized by small-scale projects that are often initiated by individual actors. We take the silent, small and incremental character of these projects as the starting point to question where and how they start to form an issue of concern for broader society. Precisely by publicly debating these small-scale changes in the everyday, we design strategies to intervene in this process of ‘autonomous’ transformations [1]. Within the frame of an Action Research approach we set up different forms of interaction (i.e. walking, scenario thinking, envisioning, enacting, prototyping, etc.) to stage such a public debate. The objective of this paper, is to discuss in what way this approach of Action Research can offer a framework to address this double perspective, namely to inquire the small-scale by (collective) small-scaled interventions in the everyday environment -and at the same time- to debate issues taking place at a larger scale, inciting (collective) reflection.