View of Integrated environmental research and networking of economy and information in rural areas of Finland

Integrated environmental research and networking of economy and information in rural ^areas of Finland

Matti Luostarinen

AgriculturalResearch Centreof^{Finland,Resource}Management Research,^FIN-31600 Jokioinen, Finland, e-mail: matti.luostarinen@mtt.fi

This articleusesmaterial from many extensive researchprojects startingfrom the construction of the

electricpowersupplynetwork and its watersupplysystemsinnorthern Finland in 1973-1986,tothe Agropolis agriculturalstrategy andnetworkingfor the Loimijoki project. Alist of the material and references of thepublications is availablein Agronet^onthe Internet.All theseprojects appliedinte- grated environmental research covering biology, the naturalsciences,social sciences,andplanning methodology.To be able to promote sustainableagricultureand rural developmentthere isapressing need toimproveresearch methodology andapplicationsforintegratedenvironmental research. This article reviews thephilosophyand developmentof the theorybehind integrated environmentalre- search and thetheoryof network economy.

Keywords', commonagricultural policy,environmentalresearch, integrated research, networkecono- my, researchmethodology

ntroduction

The world is witnessing enormouschanges such asglobalisation and networking of the economy and information. Beside the ongoing expansion of trade in the 19905,the international networks offinance, information and production have ^ex- perienced _afurther development towards globali- sation. A necessary response^tothe challenge is

toexpand the marketing of Finnish agricultural products in the EU andatthesametime towards world markets. This requires agriculture to

strengthen its ability ^to innovate, i.e., ^to mod- ernise production and organisational structures, toovercome traditional forms of the (Tayloris- tic) division of work, to improve the skills of

farmers and to investinR&D.

Environmental research in such circumstances cannot give solutions and toolstodecision-mak- ers (society/political leaders) unless there is ex- tensive integrated environmental research. In par- ticular, such research is needed to promote sus- tainable agriculture and rural development.

However,there is no separatediscipline with- in environmental^research, that systematically

©Agricultural and Food ScienceinFinland Manuscriptreceived January 1998

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AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD SCIENCE IN FINLAND

aims atdeveloping systemsand applications for this wide field. Infact,the onlycommondenom- inator in the naturalsciences,social sciences and applied sciences is the common direction of problems, i.e. theyareall relatedtoenvironmen- tal issues. Several research projects arecurrent- ly under way ^to develop indicators and policy measurestodetermine the conditions for sustain- able development in agriculture in Finland. The main issuescoverlandscape-related, ecological, regional, economic and socio-economic prob- lems and the evaluation of policy implementa-

tion.

Planning ideology of society as the power behind ^{the scenes}

Inthe 1970

s

the^{task of}research,based onsoci- ety’s planning ideology, wastoidentify problems in various socialsectorsandtofind possible so- lutions (remedies). The^natureof the entire proc- ess wasinstrumental,segmental and superviso- ry. In actual ^fact, the planning comprised quan- titative planning ofresourcesand supervision of the use ofresources by means of various sub- segmental programming and optimising meth- ods. Itwasnotuntil the late 1980

s,

after the glo- bal economic crises,that the systematic^nature and interactive systems of society begantotake shape together with global models andmacroso- cial research projects (e.g. the disputed global models of Forrester(1971, 1976) and Meadows (1972), the Club of Rome and Mesarovic and Pestel (1974), the Bariloche Model in Latin America, the Sarum Model in Great Britain and the papers produced by the “Secretariat of Futu- rological Research” in Sweden). Interesting major joint projects in Finlandincluded, mainly in the 1960

s

and ^{19705, the}water construction schemes in northernFinlandtobuild up thecoun- try’s electric powersystem (Asp et al. 1977, Luostarinen 1978)and, in the 19905, the inte-

gration of economic and social issues with bio-

sciences into environmental research. Thecrea- tion of a comprehensive perspective of social development becameacentral theme in environ- mental research and planning, allowing the goals ofpreviously unconnected sub-systems^tobeor- ganised into an integrated whole. It is obvious that solving a problem without knowing theen- tire system only leads to an accumulation of problems elsewhere. With slight exaggeration, then it could be said that problems in a certain sector of society did ^not arise out of the sub- systemalone (e.g. loadson the environment from agriculture) but outof its relation to other sub- systems(e.g. closed domestic market with fixed producer prices with support/subsidy systems).

Ackoff (1974), Churchman (1971) and Jantsch (1972)developed this conceptin Westerncoun- tries.

In the 1980

s,

planningwas arranged atthree levels:

1. normativeorpolitical planning;

2. strategic planning; and

3. operational and technical planning.

This divisionwas of crucial importance to general environmental planning and research. At thattime, the sole aim of strategic planning was toidentify and _assessalternative action plans and goals in order _to achieve general objectives, whereas that of operational and technical plan- ningwastodefine the actionstobe taken within the framework of thestrategy.Stagnation and the need foran interest in technical sciences (engi- neering)_were evident in the studies. According toWilenius(1970), this brought self-implement- ing prophecies ^to research and planning. Inte- grated environmental research has been compli- cated by opposed organisational and political opinions and conflicts of interest.Therefore,the development of sociological and economic en- vironmental research has been to some extent slower in Finland than in the other Nordic Coun- tries, and apart from basic biological research opportunities for academic studies have been inadequate.

The rigidness of the social and organisation- al structures diminished toward the end of the

1980

s.

Project organisations with_newresearch subjects _were established and _system work gained ground in all social spheres. Clusters of the network economywerepromoted. The meth- odological facilities of environmental research increased simultaneously with thenew econom- ic and social needs, making it into a process embracing all human activity. Out of this proc- essemerged research methods that wouldserve the different interests of knowledge (Fig. 1).

Accordingto Niitamo(1977),the sameprocess occurred in the general contemplation of futu- rological research and its potential.

Social practice ^and integrated environmental research

Knowledge is connected with the social practice ofan individual in his efforts^tocontrolhis sur-

roundings. The actions of_an individual_are tra- ditionally divided between three media that he uses in his actions: work, language and power.

Ofthese, work is classified asthe medium with which human society maintains and renews the necessities forlife; language is the medium for understanding and conveying reality; and power is the medium with which the objectives of work aredefined andanorganisational order is estab- lished.

An interesting contributiontothe field of in- tegrated research was that of Mäenpää (1977), who divided the above Habermas tripartition^- the three media of social practice ^- into three different fields of knowledge andacomplemen- tary interest in knowledge. The first of these deals withinformation, which extends and im- proves the technicalcapacitytodevelop and_con- trol the environment. This interest in technical knowledge is closely associated with the theory of empirical and analytical sciences, which in- terprets reality with the objective of validating Fig. 1.Morphologiesofintegratedresearch activities and^areasofapplicationof the various methods (Niitamo 1977,Luos- tarinen 1991).

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AGRICULTURAL ^AND FOOD SCIENCE ^IN FINLAND

and augmenting the knowledge required for in- strumental action. In naturalistic research and the naturalistic world view this is a dominant fea- tureand is evident in the Finnish biological and geoscientific research tradition. This process studies reality through observation and empiri- cal laws (Fig. 2).

It is ^notpossible for environmental science

and researchtoproceed solely froma naturalis- tic basis. Simplybecause,in additiontoproduc- ing information, a necessary prerequisite for planning is interpretation of the data produced.

This interpretation imparts meaning and logic^to environmental phenomena and enables social activitiestobe directed on the basis ofconsen- sus.When only naturalisticand,^atthe_{same time,} technical interest in knowledge is used, the fact

that laws express the relations between living, conscious people is often overlooked. As a re- sult, there is dissatisfaction/frustration causing mass demonstrations, rebellions,andeven wars.

There is nothing indispensable or perpetual in social laws. ^Further, the mode of action of the system is different from that in the natural sci- ences (Fig. 3). That is why social philosophy ^- also when engaged in environmental research^- mustcritically demystify established social laws and short-term conflicts of interest and demon- strate that behind themare human beings who, at least in principle, can actof their_own free will in harmony withaview of the world look- ing for hidden historic possibilities of a wider scope (possibilism) than those provided by the naturalistic environmental outlook (environmen- talism/determinism) (e.g.vonWright 1988).

nterpretation ^of multidisciplinary and integrated ^research

In rural areas,consensus is achieved inadiffer-

ent organisational structurefrom that in urban areas.The rural community in itselfrepresents amode of action very different from the rational planning and decision-making process of urban culture(Gemeinschaft-Gesellschaft,seeTönnies 1887).Interpretation in rural communities often lacks the capacitytofully identifycommon ad- vantages and benefits. Among current environ- mental projects, Natura 2000 is an example of conflicting interpretations by rural and urban populations, causing confrontation of the differ- ent interests withinamutual culture. Manyen- vironmental projects and their management might have succeeded better had there been bet-

ter understanding between individual members of organisations, enabling explanations^tobere- placed by comprehension. In integrated environ- mentalresearch, it is vital that researchers reach mutual understanding in many different fields of science.

Fig. 2.Traditional view of inductive and deductiveexpla- nation models (Luostarinen 1991).

Galtung(1974) introducedarequirement that all sciences should be independent of theexer- cise of power and unspoken objectives regarded asself-evident truths(science asinvariance-seek- ing and invariance-breaking activity). This re- flection embracesacritical interpretation of in-

tegrated research. The process has sometimes been compared topsychoanalysis: undesirable behavioural models in human beings are re- moved by subconscious forces. The task ofpsy- choanalysis is to bring subconscious forces to consciousness, regulating individual behaviour

Fig. 3. Integrationof naturalistic and anthropological environment research (Luostarinen 1986).

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AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD SCIENCE IN FINLAND

in ordertogain control of one’s behaviour in a new manner.

The evaluation and commensurability ofpub- lic goods, e.g. landscapes, should beredefined, no longer, however, on the basis of traditional economics with its definitions of ownership and bartering costs, inventories and other costs (Aakkula 1997).There isatthemomentnoprac- tical method for assessing the economic value ofarural environment and of social benefitsver- sus social costs.Within the framework of criti- cal socialscience, this entails analysing claims or ideological dependencies thatare modifiable rather than subjectto constant laws. In practice, this will lead toadynamic systemdesign ofan integrated research project against the back- ground of the generalsystems theory (Bertalanf- fy 1973) and _a simultaneously initiated discus- sion about social cybernetics (Asby 1968, Ah- mavaara 1976).

The biggest problem in integrated research

maybe the differentsystemsof interpretation in the various disciplines, preventing interdiscipli- nary understanding orthe transferral of under- standing tothe “user” through an inappropriate method of interpretation. The rural organisation- al culture doesnotaccept information with the same interpretation and argumentation as does the urban organisationalculture, whosecommu- nal nature is not so actively integrated. There- fore, it isnot possibletoexplain social phenom- ena within the framework of technical knowl- edge,nor can human behaviour be assessedcaus- ally_{as a}result of external factors.Earlier, atthe time environmentalresearch_wasgaining ground inFinland, a typical example quoted was ^Mar- kovitc(1971), who considered human behaviour as a part of_our naturalistic thinking and as a natural object. Thispattern of thought was au- thorised by the ways ofthinking andnormsprev- alent at that time. It was assumed that human behaviourwas governed by nature and the so- cialenvironment, cultural heritage and traditions.

However, in practice the models applied result- ed in fallacious prognoses even when they seemed to be technically exact (see Blalock 1971).Due reason for this was the changes in

human consciousness that have a greateffecton the constancy of thevariables, orentirely new factors that altered actions subjectto valid laws.

In this _mannerthe positivistic research method- ology continuedtoapproachanintrospective and partly also interpretation based_onbehaviourism (Fig.4).

Cooperation between integrated

research and network economy

The entirelynew way ofthinking that emerged in the early

1990 s has

required interdisciplinary cooperation and clustering in agriculture. The cluster model has evidently worked well in co- operation betweenbusinesses, the public admin- istration and research institutions. This wouldnot have been possible, however, without the new communications technology and its applications for agriculture.

At the internationallevel,anewglobal mod- elwas required for research and science parks.

The operation wasorganised through the Asso- ciation of University Related Research Parks (AURRP), and the International Association of Science Parks (lASP),basedon theneworgani- sational culture introduced by the EU for the regional economy under the strategic manage-

mentof the European Business Network(EBN) and Business Innovation Centre(BIC). The ^“re- form” of society and theuse of naturalresourc- es took place within the framework of the new system(Fig.5)andwascharacterised byalarge- scale coordinative task based onknowledge en- vironments and by the creation of clusters. In this way, the ideology ofenvironmentalresearch, which earlier appliedas apenetration principle, was given a new socialmission, and a new or- ganisation of integrated environmental research was introduced. All this has supported the im- plementation of the network economy theory:as

aform ofnetwork jobs, socialnetworks,network

economy, etc.

As the network theory spread, itwas divided to serve the conceptual _systems of the various disciplines, resulting in the least change in the natural sciences and those already based on the systemstheory.However,the_managementof the systems theory in the natural sciences was dif- ferent from what society expected of integrating organisations, social networks and network maps (seeGarrison 1974,Israel 1985,Klefbecketal.

1987, Poukka 1990),of the process spirals of network meetings (see Speck and Atteneave

1973, Erickson 1984) and of network econ- omy(seeBirley 1985) and its applications tore- gional changes (see Eskelinen and Lautanen

1989).

In rural areas as elsewhere themassproduc- tion model for_raw materials has been based_on an increasing divisionof labour and specialisa- tion. One of the primary competitive factors in

EU agriculture today is the ability ^to get those agricultural products with increasing demandon the market quickly into production. The profit margin nolonger depends so much onthe size of the yieldorthe degree of specialisation.

The main aims for rural development interms of integrated research ^are;

1.

^toimprove promotion of_newknowledge and newtechnical applications for rural develop- ment;

2. toreduce rural unemployment (caused part- ly by increased productivity); new jobscan be created primarily through investment and innovation;

3. todevelopnewownershippatterns, especially for agriculture and the food industry,as away of alleviating the problems caused by capital accumulation,whichcreates newmarkets(for Fig. 4. Integration ofphysicaland

normative levels into normative aspatialenvironment (Luostarinen

1986).

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AGRICULTURAL ^AND FOOD SCIENCE ^{IN FINLAND}

gaining maximum profit oninvested capital) by promoting new consumer patternsregard- less of negative social impactsas a whole;

4. in rural ^{areas, to} adapt ^to just-in-time pro- duction(JIT)and its methods/organisations;

5. to develop flexible work relations (telework and flexitime), thereby enabling people ^to work in/through informationnetworks, also in ruralareas;and

6. ^todevelop the transfer of technology and in- novation diffusion processes

In the United States it became clear in the

1970 s ^that

traditional models ofregional behav- iour _no longer function in network economies and in diffusion processes (Fig. ^6). Modern in- formation technology enables innovations to spread, regardless of the physical location (pro- Fig. 5. Integration of social and naturalresources innetwork economy (Luostarinen 1992).

AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD SCIENCE ^{IN FINLAND}

vided that the required infrastructure ^exists).

Examples of this arethe Agropolis agricultural strategy, the agricultural information services system onthe Internet (Agronet) and the second- generation science park ideology integrated into the BIC- programme ofEBN, whichwere initi-

ated and developedatthe Agricultural Research Centre ofFinland(MTT)in Jokioinen. The proc- ess was started in 1992,and within 2 years had spread to mostFinnish farms. Similar process launched in an urbanarea apparently couldnot have given better results. Atpresentinnovations Fig. 6. Changes in adaptationrateof innovationsinthe United Statesduringthe 1900

s

and^onillustration of the innovation process (Rogers and Shoemaker 1971,Rogers 1983).

Vol.7^(1998): 315-328.

are diffused mainly between nodes^(knots in a network) with_nolinksto the field of diffusion topreventthe reception of information (e.g. sub- innovative areas) (see Hägestrand 1953, 1970).

In the experience of the Agropolis strategy (Luostarinen 1993), the diffusion processesas a global phenomenon seem totake place mainly between “global villages” andarelikely^tocause fewer social problems than previous work mod- els. _Moreover, the initial structuring of organi- sational activities has permitted cooperation be- tween different research _segments (biological, economic, technical, social) and differentsec- torsofpublic administration^(seeMinzberg 1989, Wiberg 1990).

Current results

Apromising progressisbeing madein coopera-

tive projects in integrated research and in net- working economy atboth national and interna- tional level. At the local level the results have been summarised in thereports of the Loimijoki project (1991-1997) and in connection with the Agropolis _strategy (Luostarinen 1992, 1996,

1997, Yli-Viikarietal. 1998).

1. Differences between^{rural and}urbancommu- nitiesare narrowing atthe same timeasthe complexity and diversity oftechnological and social systems areincreasing.

2. Great progress is being made inscience,and in particular in information and communica- tions technology, biotechnology, production processes and theuse of materials. Flexible organisational structures often seem to be easier^to implement in rural areasand their communities than in urban communities, where the factors causing rigidity, e.g. trade unions, are moreproblematic. The main driv- ing forces of change are research, science, education and regional economies_{as part}of the European single market.

3. Mass production is being replaced with the

models ofaflexible economystrategy, with a simultaneous increase in the diversity of consumption and products. This will create newchallenges for research. The polarisation of social values and global environmental problemsare componentsof the samedevel- opment process.

4. In rural areas, some people are already liv- ing in a“global village”, others still inatra- ditional local village community. Localisa- tion _{terms as}well_asold spatial theories and model _structureshave_to be abandoned and replaced with practices thatarebetter suited toand function better in each individualcase.

Singlelarge-scale modelsnolonger function well.

5. In organisational structurescentral manage- ment is being replaced by networks. The boundaries between the work place and en-

vironmentarebecoming blurred.

6. Farmers areestablishingnewcooperativeen- terprises alongside existing central coopera- tives, a process thatwill eventually leadto the the disappearance of the old rural com-

munal organisation (Gemeinschaft-Gesell- schaft). Theconservative,“rational” andpost- industrial social structure is making urban cultures morerigid and slowing down proc- ess in both production and the adoption of

innovations. The applications of a flexible

economydonotfavour peripheral areas. Pe- riphery, as a concept, will have to be rede- fined.

Discussion

Toreconcile multidisciplinary research and its applications tobusiness and regional public ad- ministration, andtotransfer technology, the ba- sic analogy of the research subjectcanbe divid- ed into three sections:

1) In anintegratedcluster, the research subject consists only of fixed ^parts causally linked

tooneanother. The mechanism (causalstruc- ture)is assumedtobeconstant.Problemsare created by human behaviour, which is not mechanical andcannotbe transferred direct- lyto the causal structures.

2) If the research subject of the integrated clus- ter consists mainly of interactive_parts then problemsarecreated byareas nolonger fol- lowing the earlier theory of external control- lability.

3) In integratedresearch, statistical and empir- ical methods are highly appropriate for re- search into fixed causal relations. The meth- odsare less appropriate, however,for moni- toringprocess-type environmental phenom- ena(clusters); their applications are almost exclusively limited^to system dynamics or interactive simulation. Qualitative andstruc- tural methods (e.g. scenario analyses) and intuitive methods (e.g. the Delphi technique) (Luostarinenand Olin 1994)areexceptions thatcanalso be used to tracephenomena of process analogy.

In information gathering systems, the inte- gration takes place either by empirical, formal- istic,constructiveordialectic media (Fig. 1). In- tuitive methodsare aninformation-gathering sys-

temassociated with the empirical section of in- tegrated research. Because these methods often deal with complex and undefined topics, theyare appropriate for constructive information gather- ing.

When the Agropolis strategy within the Loimijoki programme was implemented(Luos- tarinen 1992, 1993),the initial planning of the project involved multi-scientific modelling and synergic system work. As the projects pro- gressed, one could see how the technical inter- estin knowledge, the comprehending interest in knowledge and the critical interest in knowledge hadtobe connected individuallytothe right sys- temsof information gathering in integrateden- vironmental research as arural operation.

1. The technical interest in knowledge is main- ly the development of tools and enhancement of theiruse (know how), for instance in the projects seeking tosolve the technical prob- lems of sporadic loading on a watersystem orthose involved in connecting the infrastruc- tureof science park activity toa business.

2. The comprehending interest in knowledge tendstoimprove the communication and co- operation abilities of organisations (know why). In the experimental projects it mainly meant introducing models for project work and applying the network theory atits vari- ouslevels.

3. The critical interest in knowledge createsthe basis for defining and evaluating the devel- opment goals for society (know where to).

In the experimental cases this mainly meant charting the futureprospects for ruralareas, agriculture and the food industry, examining the operational conditions in EU membership and seeking toestablishan innovation pro- gramme linked to the knowledge environ- ment.

A caricature ofatypical examplewasthecase in the lijoki river valley, where the first phase of biological research yielded results from river construction,showing that the cranberryharvest, optimised and measured by square analysis, ex- ceeded the damage causedto agriculture(Luos- tarinen 1984).In practice, however, berry har- vestshave hardly any effectonthe regional econ- omy, whereas thedamage doneto agriculture through river construction has sometimes laid entire villages to waste.A similar problem had occurred earlier along the Kemijoki and the Ounasjoki rivers when the effects of large-scale river constructing projectswereevaluated by the integrated research method (Asp ^et al. 1977, Luostarinen and Mäkinen 1980).We ^mustnone-

theless recognise that thereare no simple mod- els with which integrated environmental research could deal with multidisciplinary research and its applications.

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AGRICULTURAL ^AND FOOD SCIENCE ^IN FINLAND

Conclusion

Sustainable agricultural production needs tobe matched with sustainable consumption. Howev- er, in anincreasingly globalised economy, agri- cultural companies will only survive if theycan develop competitive advantages that appeal to consumers. We haveto take this as a challenge and _an opportunity tobuild upon an existing competitive advantage (clean agricultural envi- ronment and products) with real differentiation strategies leading to sustainable development

associated with environmental protection and social responsibility.

Finnish agriculture as a part of EU agricul- ture entersinto the reformed Common Agricul- tural Policy in 2000. The reforms are designed to improve the competitiveness of EU agricul- ture on domestic and world markets. Finnish agriculture has only ayear of the transition pe- riod left which should be used for the best inter- estof thecountry, especially from the agricul- tural point of view. In this development process, integrated environmental research and network- ing of the agricultural economy and information in rural_areasof Finland play akey role.

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SELOSTUS

Kestävän kehityksen integroidun tutkimuksen ja verkostotalouden teorian tutkimusmenetelmälliset ongelmat

Matti Luostarinen Maatalouden tutkimuskeskus

Kestävän kehityksen monitieteiseltä tutkimukselta edellytetään usein, että sen tutkimusmenetelmät lä- hestyisivät tulevaisuudentutkimuksessakäytettäviä menetelmiä. Samaa edellytetään myös maaseudun verkostoitumistajaverkostotaloutta tutkivilta tieteil- tä.Erillistä ympäristötutkimuksentieteenalaa taiver- kostotiedettä,jokasuuntautuisi systemaattisesti alan menetelmien kehittämiseen ja soveltamiseen,ei kui-

tenkaan ole. On vain eri tieteiden välisiä yhteisiä asioitaratkaistavaksi,minkä vuoksi onsyntynyt kes- tävään kehitykseen pyrkiviä menetelmiä ja lähesty- mistapoja. Humanistinenjamaaseudunongelmialaa- jemmintutkiva verkostoituminen edellyttää erityyp- pisiä käsittelytapoja kuin luonnontieteellinen aiheen tarkastelu.

Asiaa esitellään useissa maaseudun kehittämiseen

Voi7(1998): 315-328.

AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD SCIENCE IN FINLAND

ja ympäristöntutkimukseen liittyvissä suurprojekteis- sa, alkaenPohjois-Suomenkoskisodistajavesiraken-

nushankkeista vuosilta ^1972-1986,jatkuen Loimijo- kiprojektiin ja Agropolis-strategiaan vuosille 1991-

1997.Oleellista näissä monitieteisissä hankkeissa^on

ollutlöytää yhteinenkielijakäsitteetpäätöksenteki- jöille ja suunnittelijoille laajoja intressiryhmiä kos- kettavissa tutkimus-jasuunnittelukohteissa. Tarve tällaiseen työhönon entisestään lisääntynyt maail- manlaajuisten ympäristökysymysten javerkostoitumi- sensekä kestävän aluetaloussuunnittelun myötä.

Yhteiskunnan omasuunnitteluideologia jaideolo- gianhistoriallinenkehitysvaihe vaikuttavat ehkämer- kittävimminintegroituun tutkimukseenjasenyhteyk- siin verkostotalouden teoriaan.Kärjistäen voidaan sanoa,että yhteiskunnan jonkunosanongelmaeienää synny vain osajärjestelmästä itsestään, vaan osajär- jestelmän suhteista yhteiskunnan muihin järjestel- miin.Vanhasta kolmiportaisestasuunnittelusta (nor- matiivinen, strateginen ja operatiivis-tekninen) on siirrytty systeemisuunnitteluun ja -dynamiikkaansekä verkostoteoriaanja-talouteen. Vielä ennen 1990-lu- vun alun syvää lamakautta yhteiskunnan kriisiherk- kyyden ja systemaattisuuden huomioonottaminenei ollutintegroidun tutkimuksen,suunnittelun eikä ym- päristötutkimuksenkaankantavia teemoja.^Sensijaan

1970-luvun alun määrällinen resurssisuunnitteluoh- jaavine toimenpiteineen vaikutti yhätaustalla.

Agropolis-strategia, verkostoituminenjakestävän kehityksen mukaiset tutkimusmenetelmälliset näkö- kulmat ovatyleistyneet niinkansallisesti kuin kan- sainvälisestikin tilanteessa, jolloin keskeiseksi tee- maksi onnoussutkokonaiskuvan luominen yhteis- kuntakehityksestä. Tämän ansiosta aiemmin irrallisi- naesitetyt osajärjestelmien tavoitteet on voitu koota mielekkääksi kokonaisuudeksi. Samalla tutkijatovat havainneet,ettäintegroidussa työssätulkinta tai rat- kaisun etsintä eivät ole yksinomaan teknisiä tai

instrumentaalisia.Erityisestikestävääkehitystätoteu- tettaessajaverkostotaloudessa onjouduttu suunnit- telukäytäntöön, jossakaikille maaseudun ilmiöilleon pystyttäväantamaanmerkitys jasisältöyhteisenym- märryksen pohjalta. Yhä useammin intuitiiviset tai laadullis-rakenteelliset menetelmät korvaavat empii- riset tai formaalisettietolähteet,tai introspektiiviset positivistiset. Samallaeri tieteenalojentiedonkeruu-

ja käyttöjärjestelmät joudutaantulkitsemaan^maaseu- dunyhteisessä toimintakentässä, jonka

1. tekninen mielenkiinto kohdistuu lähinnä työväli- neiden etsimiseen alue- taiympäristötalouden ke- hittämiseksija valittujen työvälineiden käytön te- hostamiseksi(know how). Esimerkkejä ovattie- donsiirtoverkostotjauudetinfrastruktuuritkuten Agropolis-strategia ja Agronet-verkosto.

2. ymmärtävämielenkiinto kohdistuu lähinnä ihmis- tenja organisaatioiden kommunikaatio-ja yhteis- toimintakyvynlisäämiseen (know why).Esimerk- kejä ovatprojektityöskentely, osuustoimintaja kestävä luonnonvarainkäyttö (maaseudulla), sekä maareformien,maaltapaon, yhdyskuntarakentei- den muutosten, aliravitsemuksenja sosiaalisten ongelmien aiheuttama yhteiskunnan kriisiherk- kyys (kansainvälisesti).

3. kriittinen mielenkiinto luo lähinnä edellytyksiä yhteiskunnankehittämistavoitteiden asettamisel-

le jaarvioinnille (know where to). Esimerkkejä ovat uudet toimintamallitja -strategiat sekä nii- den tulosten arviointi.

Integroidut tutkimusyksiköt käynnistävät yleen- sätoimintansa mekanismi perusanalogianaan, empi- rismi tutkimusvälineenäänja syy-seuraussuhteetole- tuksenaan. Myöhemmin toiminta etenee ymmärtä- vään jakriittiseentiedonkeruuvaiheeseen,jolloin laa- dullis-rakenteellisetjaintuitiiviset menetelmät lisään- tyvät. Kapea-alaisesta perusmateriaalista siirrytään monimuotoisempaan materiaaliin. Koska tutkimus- kohde onvaikeasti hahmotettavissa tai siitä onristi-

riitaisia tulkintojataiteorioita,onvälttämätöntäkäyt- tää parempia tiedonhankkijoita, jolloin perinteisistä tiedonkeruujärjestelmistä (empirismi, formalismi) tulee“osarutiineja”. Teorialähestyydialektistasuun- nittelua taitoiminta-analogioiden etsimistäosanasys- teemiteoriaa tai-dynamiikkaa. Toisaalta monitietei- sessäkään tutkimuksessa jasovelluksissa tulokset ei- vät voi koskaan ollayhtäänsenlaajempiakuin vali- tutmenetelmätjaniiden taustalla olevatperusanalo- giset rajaukset ovat.Tämäon ehkä tärkein lopputu- los,johon^päästäänlaajentamalla luonnontieteellistä näkemystähumanismin suuntaan.