Being Interdisciplinary: Adventures in Urban Science and Beyond

In BeingInterdisciplinary, Alan Wilson draws on five decades as a leading figure inurban science to set out a systems approach to interdisciplinarity for those conductingresearch in this and other fields. He argues that most research isinterdisciplinary at base, and that a systems perspective is particularly appropriatefor collaboration because it fosters an outlook that sees beyond disciplines.There is a more subtle thread, too. A systems approach enables researchers to identifythe game-changers of the past as a basis for thinking outside convention, forlearning how to do something new and how to be ambitious, in a nutshell how tobe creative. Ultimately, the ideas presented address how to do research.

Building on thissystems focus, the book first establishes the basics of interdisciplinarity. Then,by drawing on the author's experience of doing interdisciplinary research, andworking from his personal toolkit, it offers general principles and a frameworkfrom which researchers can build their own interdisciplinary toolkit, with elementsranging from explorations of game-changers in research to superconcepts. In thelast section, the book tackles questions of managing and organising researchfrom individual to institutional scales.

Alan Wilsondeploys his wide experience - researcher in urban science, university professorand vice-chancellor, civil servant and institute director - to build thenarrative. While his experience in urban science provides the illustrations,the principles apply across many research fields.