A Scoping Review of Participatory Tools and Practices in Collaborative Processes: Towards Multi-Actor Collaboration in Integrated Landscape Approaches

Authors

• Irmeli Mustalahti, University of Eastern Finland
• Ida Herdieckerhoff, University of Eastern Finland
• Rebecca McLain, Portland State UniversityFollow
• Anna Mustonen, University of Eastern Finland
• Rijal Ramdani, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
• Agustiyara Agustiyara, E¨otv¨os Lor´and University, Hungary
• Denis Dobrynin, University of Eastern Finland
• Nicole Klenk, University of Toronto, Canada
• Gadfly Stratton, University of Toronto, Canada
• Miriam Castillo Orozco, University of Toronto, Canada
• multiple additional authors

Sponsor

Financial support for preparing this article was provided via two Research Council of Finland funded projects: the VIZAZI research proj ect [grant no. 369901] and the MAKUTANO research project funded by the DEVELOP programme at the Research Council of Finland [grant no. 320236].

Published In

Landscape and Urban Planning

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-1-2026

Subjects

Multi-actor collaboration -- Integrated landscape approaches, Participatory practices Collaborative processes, Collaborative governance, Collaboration dynamics

Abstract

In this article, we ask how the different tools and practices used in participatory and collaborative processes could support multi-actor collaboration in integrated landscape approaches (ILAs). First, we conducted a scoping review to identify and synthesize literature on participatory and collaborative approaches related to forest, water, land and landscapes. Secondly, we analysed 130 articles to understand how and by which means these approaches engaged different actors in multi-actor collaborations. Our findings identified a wealth of different tools and practices available to support participatory and collaborative approaches, such as participatory mapping and modelling, games and visualizations, scenario development, and knowledge co-creation. Further, our scoping review identifies 30 articles about processes with core elements of collaborative governance, namely, principled engagement, shared motivation, and capacity of joint action. We argue that externally directed processes with short-term funding do not ensure multi-actor collaboration and a commitment towards ILAs. Both collaborative governance and ILAs demand administrative openness, cross-sectoral collaboration and recognize feedback loops to ensure evolving collaboration.

Rights

Copyright (c) 2026 The Authors

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.1016/j.landurbplan.2026.105664

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44644

Citation Details

Mustalahti, I., Herdieckerhoff, I., McLain, R., Mustonen, A., Ramdani, R., Agustiyara, A., Dobrynin, D., Klenk, N., Stratton, G., Orozco, M. C., Reyes, R. S., Nyanda, S. S., Tumaini, U., Maro, A. H., & Lwoga, E. T. (2026). A scoping review of participatory tools and practices in collaborative processes: Towards multi-actor collaboration in integrated landscape approaches. Landscape and Urban Planning, 272, 105664.