Hello Abyekta Khanal,

We have written a paper on the importance of reflexivity in design education in which we address this issue. Reflexivity helps to gain a better understanding of the positionality of actors and knowledge, reveal underlying assumptions, and help to create new ideas, develop alternative ways of seeing, and therewith by creating new knowledge.

Beunen, Van Assche, Duineveld: The importance of reflexivity in planning and design education. Wageningen University.

Article The importance of reflexivity in planning and design education

Hi R Beunen.

'Reflexivity is understood as a sustained reflection on the positionality of knowledge'. What do you see as the conditions under which such a reflection can take place? Clearly knowledge is positioned in the sense that it emerges within a specific socio- cultural setting, so in order to reflect on that positioning we have to detach ourselves from the setting in which it is embedded. Is that what you mean ? But how do we construct this 'Archimedean point' from which to reflect on our positionality? How do we get outside our own position?

This presents 'an opportunity to strengthen the academic dimension of planning and design curricula.' Clearly we might wish to include critical challenge in our planning and design curricula but where is this critical challenge positioned ? Critical challenge is not a neutral 'Archimedean point' from which the examine positionality, but rather quality that is positioned within it, in other words an intrinsic quality to planning and design as activities.

Reflection cannot take place in a vacuum but invariably takes a position. We can of course think about our assumptions and about the possibility of alternative ways of seeing and doing things but our assumptions can only be reflected upon from the point of view of alternative ones.

Dear Mike,

I completely agree with your last remarks. Reflexivity is about taking another perspective, e.g. one from which it is for example possible to reflect on the role and position of researchers in planning and design practices.

Reflexivity in our perspective is based on the awareness that each observation comes from a certain position, that there is no neutral or objective way to know reality, no Archimedean point. Researchers cannot escape the relations of power in which knowledge is constructed and applied. They are however able to switch perspectives, to uncover hidden assumptions underlying the framing of problems and solutions, to show the normative character of planning and design, and to analyse the consequences a certain normative perspective has for the position of other forms of knowledge, other perspectives or certain groups who are involved in the process.

Switching perspectives, and allowing different perspectives to collide, might create new insights, novel ideas, and shifts in the power/knowledge configurations and thus “new knowledge” to emerge.

I find the book Against Essentialism by Stephan Fuchs very interesting from this point of view.

Hi,

Good question and responses.

This book is interesting and covers the theory of reflexivity and reflectivity well-

Reflexive Methodology: New Vistas for Qualitative Research [Hardcover]

Mats Alvesson (Author), Kaj Skoldberg (Author)

I drew upon it to use Reflective Interpretation in my phd (to understand public involvement agenda in health research). Some people I talked to during the study argued that reflexivity is not a research method and considered it as an add on to method i.e. not a legitimate method for constructing knowledge. But that is perhaps more an argument about theoretical perspective rather than methodology- reflexivity is personal and interpersonal and that tends to go against most people's ideas of valid research method. For me self-governance was more of an important issue and what observations/thoughts I was/wasn't willing to commit to paper.

I agree with the view (expressed by several people above) that you can not escape subjectivity or intersubjectivity but that positionality can help to reveal the influence/contribution of these to the research. I did some work after my phd to try and structure positionality more using different components of reflexivity e.g. self, intersubjective, ethical, social, contextual.