Participatory knowledge co-production to activate culture in the development of small cities and rural areas in Portugal
ISSN: 1750-8614
Article publication date: 28 November 2023
Issue publication date: 15 March 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Culture is increasingly recognized as a key component of local development, but this attention is largely focused on large cities. This paper aims to focus on the ways in which the innovative, participatory action-research (PAR) methods of IdeaLabs and community intervention workshops are used by two projects with solidarity economy enterprise (SEE) participants to activate place-based cultural resources for local development in small communities.
Design/methodology/approach
An in-depth reflexive analysis undertaken by researchers involved in the two projects, taking a feminist ethics of care perspective, demonstrates the ways in which these two PAR methods promote local development with the goal of fighting against the economic, social and cultural degradation of small cities and rural areas.
Findings
The PAR methods used by the two projects examined stimulate place-based local development initiatives through collaboration and knowledge co-production among participants and researchers. The projects go beyond an instrumental view of the use of culture and the arts for local development to innovate and demonstrate new methodologies for more participatory approaches.
Originality/value
This paper addresses a gap in social economy literature, presenting methods that can be used in PAR projects to catalyse the use of culture as a local development tool by local SEEs.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper was developed within the framework of the research project “CREATOUR: Creative Tourism Destination Development in Small Cities and Rural Areas” (Project 016437), which was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT/MEC) through national funds and co-funded by FEDER through the Joint Activities Programme of COMPETE 2020 and the Regional Operational Programmes of Lisbon and Algarve. In addition, Cláudia Pato Carvalho received financial support for the research, authorship and publication of this paper through REDE ARTERIA (2018–2020 – Project CENTRO-07–2114-FEDER-000022, PT) and the Portugal Science and Technology Foundation under “Norma Transitória” (DL57/2016/CP1341/CT0004). The authors thank the participants of both the CREATOUR and REDE ARTÉRIA projects for their generous insights and the anonymous reviewers for their critiques and suggestions.
Citation
Duxbury, N., Bakas, F.E. and Carvalho, C.P. (2024), "Participatory knowledge co-production to activate culture in the development of small cities and rural areas in Portugal", Social Enterprise Journal, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 159-180. https://doi.org/10.1108/SEJ-12-2022-0116
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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