Special Issue "Sustaining Rural Innovation: Reflexivity, Diversity and Co-creation"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Áine Macken-Walsh
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agri-Food business and Spatial Analysis, Rural Economy Development Programme, Teagasc, Ireland
Interests: governance, power, gender, co-creation, multi-actor approach (MAA)
Dr. Anita Naughton
E-Mail
Guest Editor
Department of Agri-Food business and Spatial Analysis, Rural Economy Development Programme, Teagasc, Ireland
Interests: race, ethnicity, multi-actor approach (MAA), rural innovation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Stimulating and sustaining rural innovation is a central mission of future European and global policies, seen as a necessary response to contemporary sustainability challenges. Narrow sectoral and monodisciplinary approaches to tackling grand societal challenges are acknowledged to lack effectiveness. Cross-sectoral, multi-actor and genuinely transdisciplinary approaches are needed to find creative solutions and opportunities. But, how may these approaches be proactively stimulated, sustained and improved? For this, social science knowledge is critically needed to reach rigorous understandings of the processes at play. Only then can ‘good’ practices and features of rural innovation be identified, and challenges and threats. We understand the challenge of sustaining rural innovation as occurring in interplays between a range of technical and human relational processes. For the ‘virtuous spiral’ of rural innovation to emerge and be sustained, there must be continuous attentiveness to and investment in how diverse actors are facilitated to become involved and co-create.

This special issue gathers perspectives from social scientists working in the field of rural innovation. It aims to present new knowledge of how social science insights are used to practically enhance rural innovation. Particularly welcome are papers focusing on frameworks for the identification of good practices; tools for supporting multi-actor co-design; strategies that aim to understand and build networks; and evaluation practices that stimulate reflexivity. Social science theories of gender, diversity, participation and power will frame the practical approaches in the papers chosen for this special issue. Papers selected for this Special Issue will be subject to a rigorous peer-review process with the aim of rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments, and applications.

Dr. Áine Macken-Walsh
Dr. Anita Naughton
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • rural innovation
  • sustainability
  • co-creation
  • co-design
  • governance
  • networks
  • multi-actor approach (MAA)

Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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