The city is a complex object. Some researchers look at its shape, others at its people, animals, ecology, policy, infrastructures, buildings, history, art, or technical networks. Some researchers analyze processes of in- or exclusion, gentrification, or social mobility, others biological evolution, traffic flows or spatial development. Many combine these topics or add things that are not in this list. Some projects cross the boundaries of research and practice and engage in action research while others pursue knowledge for the sake of curiosity. This volume embraces this variety of perspectives and provides an essential collection of methodologies to study the city from multiple, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary perspectives. We start from recognizing that the complexity of the urban environment cannot be understood from a single vantage point. We therefore offer multiple methodologies to gather and analyze data about the city, and provide ways to connect and integrate these approaches.
The contributors form a talented network of urban scholars and practitioners at the forefront of their fields. They offer hands-on methodological techniques and skills for data collection and analysis. Furthermore, they reveal honest and insightful reflections from behind the scenes. All methodologies are illustrated and applied to the city of Amsterdam. That way, the volume also offers a rich collection of Amsterdam based research and outcomes that may inform local urban practitioners and policy makers.
Altogether, the volume offers indispensable tools for and aims to educate a new generation of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary minded urban scholars and practitioners.
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