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About the research 2009-2012
The research brings up a much needed academic input to the discussion on public participation and the challenges of the welfare state. The aim of the research is to study, analyse and synthesize, how and to what extent community informatics-assisted time planning with its special approach and tools will enhance the mastering or sustaining of the glocal everyday life of citizens and their participation in local development, communal production and the building of social capital of their community. The argument is that new policy instruments, such as time policies and time planning, will benefit both individuals and collectives, such as local communities, if multilevel and multi-dimensional measures are simultaneously orchestrated in a participatory and context-sensitive way.
The implementation of the study is guided by a transdisciplinary framework consisting of participatory time planning and development, community informatics,as well as environmental psychology. The design of the research comprises four substudies. The expected results will comprise the conceptual development of the preconditions, main features and impacts of the ¿participatory community`. It will also produce new knowledge about the scientific basis of the role and methods of community informatics-assisted time planning and its impact on the creation of context sensitive mobility practices and service systems, communal production and socially sustainable communities. Also new insight will be acquired of the significance of a policy instrument, such as time policy and its impact on different levels: individual, NGO-group, community and town or city. This knowledge is highly relevant for the development of human-friendly communities. Four doctoral degrees and several articles in refereed and popular journals will be written.
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