Keywords
Commons
Latin America
Knowledge co-production
Participatory methods
Abstract
Climate change, biodiversity loss, growing inequalities, and the expansion of extractive economies have exposed the limitations of conventional approaches to sustainability research (Rakowski et al., 2025). These interconnected crises require forms of knowledge production that move beyond disciplinary boundaries and foster collaboration among researchers, communities, policymakers, and civil society. In this context, transdisciplinary research has emerged as a key approach to co-producing knowledge capable of supporting societal transformations (Merçon, 2021; Streck, 2021).
At the same time, the commons have gained renewed attention within sustainability science and political ecology. Beyond the collective governance of natural resources, contemporary perspectives understand commons, or ‘commoning’, as relational systems sustained through practices of care, reciprocity, and collective stewardship (Nightingale, 2019; Partelow and Manlosa, 2023). Rivers, forests, archives, knowledge, and cultural heritage are increasingly recognized not only as shared resources but also as spaces where communities negotiate identities, responsibilities, and alternative socio-ecological futures.
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