Healey’s Work in Glendale and the Engaged Scholarship Debate

In her latest book, Patsy Healey reflects on the work she undertook after retirement, focusing on advancing community development, strategic neighborhood planning, affordable housing, and services in her community. The work reflects Healey’s intellectual journey during a century marked by significant shifts in scholarly understandings of the knowledge-action relationship. Her book can be interpreted as a form of action-based scholarship that connects with long-standing debates in participatory action research. Viewed in this light, Healey’s work, carried out independently of institutional constraints, returns engaged scholarship to its fundamental premises, speaking to the importance of focusing on action.