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Phosphorus (P) is essential for life on Earth, yet its current management is unsustainable. Stakeholder engagement is urgently needed to help ensure that scientific and technical solutions to improve P sustainability meet the needs of diverse groups, yet there are comparatively few studies that provide insights into stakeholder views, perceptions, or concerns. In this opinion, we use a mass flow diagram of P as a boundary object to understand the complex challenges of sustainable P management. In particular, we map US stakeholder groups onto the mass flow diagram to incorporate human factors into mass flows at a national scale. Our approach is grounded in well-established social–scientific methodologies, such as stakeholder mapping and social network analysis, but is applied in a novel way that can be generalized to other mass flows and geographic areas. We then suggest ways that researchers can use the annotated flow diagram to identify both knowledge gaps and research gaps in stakeholder engagement, especially in interdisciplinary or convergence research contexts.
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This content will become publicly available on December 1, 2025
Triple Bottom Line Scenario Sites as Boundary Objects for Integrating Diverse Disciplines in Convergent Research
Today’s challenges with sustainability are driven by complexity, lack necessary information, resist straightforward solutions, span multiple scales, and encompass diverse or sometimes conflicting perspectives. To tackle these issues effectively, research organizations need tools that support and accelerate the integration of disciplinary knowledge across both natural and social sciences so that they can explore and execute workable solutions. Boundary objects are tools that can bring diverse perspectives together through a shared point of focus that is meaningful across different groups and perspectives, enhancing communication between them. Here, we introduce a framework to develop Triple Bottom Line Scenario Sites (TBL Sites) as “convergence” boundary objects and intervention testbeds to support a holistic approach to sustainability research within multidisciplinary and multi-institutional organizations. We describe four key criteria used to identify a potential TBL Site: (1) proximity to researchers, (2) a bounded geographic location encompassing a particular ecosystem, (3) an integrated stakeholder network, and (4) access to existing resources. We explain how TBL Sites may be used to assess research impacts on environmental, economic, and social sustainability goals. Finally, we provide examples of aquatic, agricultural, and urban TBL Sites used by the Science and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS) Center, demonstrating how these boundary objects facilitate convergence across a large multidisciplinary research team to tackle sustainable phosphorus management.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2019435
- PAR ID:
- 10608786
- Publisher / Repository:
- MDPI
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Sustainability
- Volume:
- 16
- Issue:
- 23
- ISSN:
- 2071-1050
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 10429
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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