Abstract

Visions help to understand common ground and tensions among citizens and stakeholders, supporting inclusive land management and conservation solutions to the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis. With careful design and sufficient resource, it is possible to bring together communities and other stakeholders to share perspectives and deliberate desired futures, identifying more acceptable alternatives and avoiding costly delays. We evaluated researcher and participant experiences of illustration-based interviews to understand land management visions using four studies in Scotland, The Netherlands and Spain. These studies used STREAMLINE, a visual mixed-method interview format using thematic illustrated canvases designed to provide an inclusive and creative framing for participants to contemplate their desired future. Participants enjoyed the informal visual format, which reduced pressure, increased comfort through the research process, and helped their thinking and reflection about complex topics. They also valued being listened to and having the opportunity to share their views. Researchers appreciated the ability to triangulate rich qualitative data with a variety of quantitative measure through the mixed-method format and the flexibility to adapt the canvases to suit their research aims. Positive participant experience made facilitation easier and was stimulating for the researchers. The credibility and legitimacy of illustration-based interviews will ultimately depend on specific research design-decisions and testing, which can make the approach more resource intensive than conventional interviews. While organisational barriers should be considered realistically, illustration-based interviews can have high saliency by providing useful and usable insights that strengthen land management policy and planning.

Keywords

Inclusive Conservation; Participatory planning; Governance; Visions; Visual methods; Participatory methods

Published in

Landscape and Urban Planning
2023, Volume: 239, article number: 104862
Publisher: ELSEVIER

SLU Authors

• Lo, Veronica

  • Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • University of British Columbia

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences
Landscape Architecture


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104862

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/128640