Pursuing Theory and Practice When ‘Everything is Moving’

Abstract

This article describes the basic elements of an intensive action research process. The process started from an educational program offered to professional groups interested in the problems in developing the public sector as a forum that would transcend the boundaries separating different work organizations. The beginning of the program coincided with a radical socio-economic change that affected very basically the role of public services in Finland. The researcher/practitioner cooperation continued in different forms for several years. The article interprets the setting and processes of the program through the concept of space, paying special attention to the dynamics between different aspects (physical, mental and social) of space.