ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book highlights an approach to addressing the challenges facing all of us who are working with sustainable cities. It focuses on the need to include a wider range of actors in research processes in order to create novel forms of urban research that can better grasp the multidimensionality of the problems that are being faced. The basis for why co-production is put forward as an important complement to traditional forms of knowledge production given current challenges and conditions of sustainable urban development is explained. The book outlines the history of the motivations and drivers behind the needs for collaboration between public and academic organizations in Gothenburg, Sweden. It reflects upon the experience of co-producing knowledge at the African Center for Cities (ACC) in Cape Town, South Africa.
