Strategies for Urban Network Learning by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030360481
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

For each of the methods described and discussed in this chapter, these factors are elaborated in more detail in the section below.

7.1 Learning Evaluation

7.1.1 Structure of the Network

Both formal and informal organisations are included as long as they are (most) relevant for evaluating the issue at stake. Learning evaluations and learning histories can accommodate both types quite well.

Neither method involves decision-making on the issue at stake. The only decision-making that takes place is about the organisation and the implementation of learning evaluations or learning histories. At these moments, decisions are agreed upon to re-adjust, further focus, or otherwise progress in the evaluation process. Room for consensus for all key actors at these moments is important.

With regard to the number of actors that can be involved, a distinction should be made between actors as “organisations” and actors as “organisational roles”. In the former case, between six and twelve organisations can be meaningfully involved; in the latter case, between six and twenty respondents can be meaningfully involved.

For both methods, the number of relations among actors in the network (its density) is largely dependent on the scope of the evaluation. When a small timeframe is evaluated, the density of data, perspectives, and opinions can be high and can be accommodated by learning evaluations or learning histories. When a process of several years is evaluated, the density of data, perspectives, and opinions must not be too high to keep a sharp focus and maintain clarity.

In practice, both learning histories and learning evaluations have one or a few actors that have the most relations when it comes to defining the objective, purpose, and use of the results. In the cases studies, this is true for the local governments involved. It is important for these central actors, who have initiated the learning evaluation, to be open to the results of these evaluations.

The researchers that implement a learning evaluation or a learning history can be considered as an intermediate organisation: they act between the evaluation client and those who can provide knowledge and experiences that are needed to produce a meaningful evaluation. As such, this intermediating role is a necessary condition, and it should be accommodated outside the initiating organisation. In addition, the researchers might play an intensified role in learning histories because of their skills in providing sound and meaningful storylines.

In learning evaluations, the client perspective dominates, mostly a government agency that wants to learn from a complex policy process or project. To secure commitment for both the research process and its outcomes, however, this dominant position must be flexible enough to enable other actors to cooperate. In addition, researchers play a vital role in granting all actors involved access to the learning evaluation process. It must be clear that researchers have the final say in the coherence, rigour, and independence of their work and its outcomes. The researchers’ role might be somewhat more pronounced in learning histories because of their reliance on written documents and the construction of accurate and meaningful storylines in the research process.

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