Moving out and into public space: developing action oriented, participatory research practices to (re)write urban narratives from a more-than-human perspective

The complexity of the urban condition and the entanglement of economic interests and physical, social characteristics of place challenges current notions of community-based research trying to make sense of the increasing complex interrelations between social conditions and local place in a globalizing context; processes of gentrification, sleeping neighborhoods, interweaving work with living, education and leisure and new types of networks that tie neighborhoods together. Social welfare workers are increasingly involved in co-creative processes of urban transformations, with the challenge to disseminate and discuss in-between (design) research results with citizens and to invite the perspective of disadvantaged (groups of) citizens who lack the support or negotiation power to engage in urban transformation processes. Central to their role as a facilitator of these processes is the question how to reconcile economic interests of policy makers investing in the design of urban neighborhoods and the social objectives in developing sustainable urban communities or contexts. Our aim is to develop new and innovative models for participatory research engagement that do justice to a multiplicity of different voices, with inclusion of unexpected or rather coïncidental voices and virtual communities of visitors.