Savoir Habitant : the ethics of place-based knowledge

Community participation in decision-making is widely recognised as vital but challenging in regional development, particularly for so-called ‘left-behind places’. This paper argues that epistemic exclusion compounds material and political marginalisation, and that greater attention to the ethics of place-based knowledge is needed. Drawing upon literature on participatory planning from Europe and North America, we offer a conceptualisation of the subjective, affective and practical forms of knowledge from experience of living in a place, Savoir Habitant. We propose a normative model of producing place-based knowledge where communities are involved that provides a structured understanding of epistemic potentials and tensions.