The following paragraphs describe the research methods – some of the text below is excerpts from the research proposal that was submitted to Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) in October 2015:
This research project investigates the covering and daylighting of urban streams whereby its objectives correspond to a two-phase research design:
Phase I: Literature review and the identification of best practices
This phase, which started in spring 2016, investigated the current scope and nature of urban stream daylighting across the globe in order to identify the criteria for best practices that provide lessons for future ecological planning and design. Accordingly, this phase entailed a review of secondary sources on urban stream daylighting including, scholarly and non-scholarly publications, multimedia and online sources, and planning and design documents, among others. In addition to informing the subsequent phases of this research project, the findings of this literature review led to the design of this online portal.
We developed a method that combined a systematic review of the literature and an in-depth analysis of the literature's contents. A peer reviewed paper published in MethodsX documents our method.
Specifically, this on-line portal seeks to achieve two knowledge mobilization objectives. First, it will provide an interactive database of urban stream daylighting projects from around the world. The database, which consists of both textual and visual data (design drawings and photographs), will serve as a reference for researchers, practitioners, and laypeople interested in urban stream culverting and daylighting. This database will be continuously updated throughout the lifespan of this research project as more literature is reviewed and more projects identified.
Second, this portal will provide an interactive platform for stakeholder participation in the iterative design process as described in step four below.
Phase II: A cross-national comparative case study analysis
This phase, which commenced in September 2017 explores the potential of urban stream daylighting for:
- Climate change adaptation as a response at the macro eco-system regeneration level;
- Climate change mitigation as a measure at the meso urban morphological level; and
- Place-making as a quality of life ameliorating approach at the micro level.
These levels are transformed into the units of analysis that collectively provide the rationale for a cross-national comparative research methodology that focuses on specific case studies, including Amman’s Seil and Seoul’s Cheonggyecheon.
This phase consists of four consecutive steps:
Step one
This step entails a review of the literature on the relevant case studies, including Amman and Seoul. It also includes the collection of secondary data (e.g., contemporary and historic maps, planning documents, geographic information system (GIS) data… etc.) as well as organizational arrangements and preparations for the fieldwork in each city.
Collectively, the findings from this step will guide the fieldwork, especially, the design charrettes to concurrently serve their participatory, data collection, and knowledge exchange purposes. Simultaneously, the preparations for the fieldwork will take place during this step, including, the recruitment of the design charrette participants through networking with governmental and non-governmental organizations in Amman and Seoul.
The fieldwork in Amman was completed in April 2018 during which, we developed a "deliberative Q-method", a new method that combined the conventional focus group and Q-method. A paper that describes this method has been published in MethodsX and the following video, prepared by Megan Peck, details its steps.
Step two
The step primarily comprises of the fieldwork to collection the primary data (e.g., design charrettes and transect walks) that will take place during April 2018 (Amman) and April 2019 (Seoul). In addition to the graduate student researchers conducting their graduate theses and dissertations on in this research project, this and the subsequent steps will also involve other students who will partake in a series of special research-based urban design studios taught by Khirfan.
Khirfan will train all the students in the collection of primary and secondary data, namely in how to facilitate the design charrettes and to conduct the transect walks. Akin to semi-structured interviews, design charrettes elicit the participants’ knowledge of a particular theme –in this case: the potential of urban stream daylighting for climate change adaptation and mitigation, and for place-making. Such knowledge is transferred both verbally and visually to the researchers during discussions and interactive drawing activities (Schorn, 2000). In addition to knowledge exchange, this approach also will fulfil the participatory design objective since the discussions underscore the participants’ own concerns about vulnerability and their adaptation and mitigation assessments independently from the researchers’ assumptions (Walters, 2007; Smit & Wandel, 2006).
Additionally, the transect walks, as an observation method, facilitate the collection of primary visual data so as to generate typologies of the urban design and architectural features and to document public space usage.
Step three
During this step, the collected primary data will be managed, synthesized, and analyzed. In particular, the data synthesis will identify and classify the themes that will emerge from the data using established urban design framework, such as a SWOT, transects, and/or constraint-opportunities. The emergent themes and their corresponding SWOT analysis will guide the subsequent design step.
During this step also, it will be possible to identify areas of further research in each case study, and the suitable data collection methods to investigate them.
Step four
This phase compares then combines the themes generated from the primary data and the ones garnered from the literature review. Each of the ensuing themes will be analyzed through the lens of the best practices that were gleaned from phase I of this study.
Informed by a combination of the local ecological knowledge (from the primary data) and best practices (from the literature), an iterative design process ensues where the design proposals will be continuously revised based on critique provided through discussions among the applicant and the students and through stakeholder feedback – facilitated by this on-line portal where the design proposals will be posted with a stakeholder commentary. Stakeholder feedback will be documented and incorporated into the design proposals while the final design proposals will be shared with the public through the same on-line portal and as policy recommendations for decision-makers.
References
- Schorn, A. (2000). "The "theme-centered interview". A method to decode manifest and latent aspects of subjective realities." Forum: Qualitative Social Research 1(2): Article 23.
- Smit, B. and J. Wandel (2006). "Adaptation, adaptive capacity and vulnerability." Global Environmental Change 16: 282–292.
- Walters, D. (2007). Designing Community: Charrettes, Masterplans and Form-based Codes. Burlington, MA, Elsevier Limited.