Scientific output
Munuera Garcia, J., van Hoven, B., & Doornbos, J. (2026). Where different abilities meet: participatory game development as a site of encounter in the classroom. Social & Cultural Geography, 1-20. (Open Access)
This article examines a participatory game development collaboration in the Netherlands between vocational students (aged 15–28) and people with disabilities. The project aimed to produce digital games that engaged disability in different ways: by addressing everyday spatial and social barriers and proposing solutions, by mainstreaming disability in narratives, and by developing accessible games for players with disabilities. This article contributes to debates on organized encounters by showing how pedagogical settings actively script encounters through institutional arrangements and uneven distributions of labour and risk. We argue that in-class pedagogical encounters created conditions for people with and without disabilities to interact, enabled forms of recognition and social connection by partially reworking everyday power relations, and allowed ‘disabled strangers’ to become known to non-disabled others. In doing so, this article highlights the potential of participatory game development for scripting encounters and the limits of pedagogically organized encounters in reshaping everyday geographies beyond the classroom.
Doornbos, J., & van Hoven, B. (2026). “Research is temporary, our experiences are forever”: rethinking ethics of care in participatory research with people with disabilities. Methods in Psychology, 100230. (Open Access)
Various scholars have discussed how ‘sensitive research’ or working with ‘vulnerable populations’ raises significant ethical considerations. While a feminist ethics of care can ensure a more respectful approach to scientific inquiry, it may also disempower participants through paternalistic research practices. Illustrated by actual research situations, we explore specific instances of practising care in our participatory research with people with disabilities in the Netherlands. By drawing on our personal reflections and those of the co-researchers with disabilities, we aim to contribute to rethinking ethics of care in participatory research and in working with people with disabilities or other ‘vulnerable populations’. We argue that similar research with both vulnerabilities and opportunities for enabling research practices requires care-full and slow methodologies. Within such slow research, a collective interdependence and responsibility can be attended to, surpassing solely procedural forms of research ethics and neoliberal logics.
van Hoven, B. (2025). “Break out” – learning about disability and the inclusive city through emotion and affect. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 1-14. (Open Access)
This article discusses the role of affect and emotion in teaching and learning by drawing on the case of an interdisciplinary, arts-based, and participatory educational project, “Break Out”/“Show Yourself”. The case entails a collaboration between people with multiple physical impairments, students from the Geography and Planning degree programme (and later also from the Liberal Arts and Sciences programme) at the University of Groningen, and students from the Art Academy Minerva, also in Groningen. The article draws on a rich data set of student reflections, students’ fieldwork photos and photos of their visual storytelling through knowledge sharing activities. Using an “Affective Pedagogies framework”, the article discusses different spaces in which students engaged in learning about disability and the inclusive city through emotion and affect. It highlights the way in which learning spaces might allow for struggle, joy as well as discomfort, as necessary for learning.
van Hoven, B., Fisher, M., & Munuera Garcia, J. (2024). Mapping the inclusive city: Engaging people with disabilities as co-researchers in Groningen (the Netherlands). Community Development, 1-16. (Open Access)
In this article, we discuss a participatory project with people with disabilities. In light of the lack of collaboration with people with disabilities in (spatial) decision-making processes, our aim was to develop and test a method that allowed for the involvement of people with disabilities in community development, and in particular in mapping accessibility and inclusivity in various places and spaces in the city of Groningen (the Netherlands). In this project, we collaborated with clients at ‘s Heeren Loo, an organization that provides housing and care for clients with acquired brain injury, deafness with complex problems and chronic neurological disorders. We describe our approach and experiences in participatory research, focusing on the opportunities and challenges in developing and implementing a data collection method that enabled us to involve people with a disability as co-researchers.
Impression of recent presentations
8-10 April 2026, BeNeLux Geography Conference 2026, KU Leuven.
'Reimagining the Accessible City: Co-creating Tabletop Games for Geography Education' - Julia Munuera Garcia (Speaker), Bettina van Hoven (Contributor) and Julia Doornbos (Contributor)
26-29 August 2025, RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2025, University of Birmingham, UK.
'“But who wants to know this?” Interactive exhibitions and telling stories about the inclusive city' - Sabine Kliss (Speaker), Bettina van Hoven (Speaker), Kate Lehane (Contributor) and Julia Doornbos (Contributor)
In this presentation, we focus on the development of an interactive exhibition about the lived experiences of accessibility and inclusion in urban spaces for people with (mobility) impairments. The exhibition, as a form of storytelling, brings together various arts-based, participatory research and educational projects with different stakeholders carried out within a broader project ‘Everyday Geographies of Being and Becoming Disabled’. We highlight ways in which physical, socio-cultural, affective, economic and policy dimensions affect everyday experiences in urban spaces using data from conversations, workshops, photos and videos, as well as smartphone based mapping.
26-29 August 2025, RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2025, University of Birmingham, UK.
'“Where are we going today?” Using GoPros to research the inclusive city with wheelchair co-researchers' - Kate Lehane (Speaker), Sabine Kliss (Contributor), Bettina van Hoven (Contributor) and Julia Doornbos (Contributor)
In this presentation, we discuss our experiences using GoPro cameras to record travel routes from our wheelchair-researchers residence to various locations in the city. We travelled ‘on foot’ using sidewalks, bike paths and streets as well as recorded travel by public transportation. The GoPro footage was coded using categories that captured locations and obstacles. As a part of our sense-making, ‘short stories’ were created and reviewed together with the co-researchers. The point of view nature of the footage allowed the co-researchers to re-experience specific moments alongside the researchers to collaboratively reflect on barriers and future opportunities. In re-visiting certain segments, we highlight some of the challenges and impacts of doing creative research.
26-29 August 2025, RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2025, University of Birmingham, UK.
'Mapping disability in motion: Accessibility, identity, and the lived city' - Julia Munuera Garcia (Speaker), Bettina van Hoven (Contributor) and Julia Doornbos (Contributor)
This paper examines how people with disabilities experience, navigate, and negotiate urban spaces. Drawing on Actor–Network Theory (ANT), it explores how both human and non-human actants shape accessibility, inclusion, and belonging in the city.
Empirical data were collected in Groningen, the Netherlands, through go-along interviews recorded with GoPro cameras attached to participants’ bodies. The recordings capture GIS information, spatial challenges, navigation practices, and serendipitous encounters with others. During these walks, participants reflected on the material, social, and institutional factors that influence their sense of belonging.
Using deep mapping, the research visualises and analyses the everyday realities and geographies of people with disabilities. Three main themes emerged:
- Material barriers and enablers encountered in everyday urban life.
- Actants shaping identity, including fashion, social connections, public perceptions, assistive technologies, and assumptions about independence.
- Lived spatial experiences, ranging from daily frustrations to deeply personal connections to place.
For some participants, we followed daily routes, such as one student’s daily path to class that required using a back entrance. For others, we visited more emotionally charged sites, such as the location where one participant had the accident that left them wheelchair bound. These journeys reveal how urban space is negotiated beyond questions of physical accessibility alone, exposing the layered and relational geographies of everyday being and becoming.
7 April 2025, Keynote, Qualitative Research Group conference, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
'Exploring Arts-Based Methods in Research and Education' - Bettina van Hoven (Speaker), Julia Doornbos (Contributor) and Anna Lebedieva (Contributor)
Traditional academic research and education often prioritize text-based, objective knowledge, yet many lived experiences—such as disability, identity, and spatial belonging—cannot be fully captured in words alone. This presentation explores the potential of arts-based methods to engage affect, materiality, and collaboration in research and teaching. Drawing on examples, including a disability awareness education project and a research collaboration with a graphic designer, I demonstrate how visual and narrative storytelling facilitates deeper emotional and critical engagement. Through an Actor-Network Theory (ANT) lens, I highlight how knowledge is co-constructed through social, material, and artistic networks. By challenging conventional paradigms, arts-based approaches not only make research more accessible but also create spaces for ethical and transformative learning. The talk concludes by reflecting on the broader implications for interdisciplinary collaboration, public engagement, and social change.
26 March 2025, Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers. Detroit, USA (Online)
'Designing Disruption. A Collaborative Exploration of Accessibility and Inclusion through Graphic Storytelling' - Bettina van Hoven (Speaker), Julia Doornbos (Speaker) and Anna Lebedieva (Speaker)
In this presentation, we explore a case study of developing knowledge sharing products from a participatory research project involving wheelchair users with multiple disabilities who co-researched accessibility and inclusion in the city of Groningen, the Netherlands. As part of the knowledge sharing, our intention was to create engaging and inspirational books. One specifically speaks to local councillors who work on creating policy for inclusive urban spaces, and particularly addressing the UN Declaration on the Rights of People with Disabilities. The other showcases arts-based research carried out by teams comprising a collaboration between people with disabilities, geography students and students from an arts academy.
Our aim was to let the books tell their stories through graphic design as much as the contents. We collaborated with Anna Lebedieva, a graphic designer whose interest focuses on the role of graphic design in promoting diverse communication and bringing complex issues to the attention of a broader public. In our case study, in addition to creating a celebratory narrative about involving co-researchers with a disability, the intention was to integrate an experience of discomfort, interruption and disruption as this represents key, everyday experiences of wheelchair users in the city through the graphic design of our book. The presentation briefly introduces the participatory research and then discusses opportunities and challenges in collaborating and communicating in the process of creating our artistic mediums (e.g., different work practices, expectations, communication styles, power dynamics).
5 February 2025, GEO Lecture, Wageningen University, the Netherlands
'Break Out- Learning about Disability and the Inclusive City through Emotion and Affect' - Bettina van Hoven (Speaker)
In this presentation, I discuss the role of affect and emotion in teaching and learning by drawing on the case of an interdisciplinary, arts-based and participatory educational project, ‘Break Out’/ ‘Show Yourself’. The case entails a collaboration between people with multiple physical impairments, students from the Geography and Planning degree programme (and later also from the Liberal Arts and Sciences programme) at the University of Groningen, and students from the Art Academy Minerva, also in Groningen. The presentation draws on a rich data set of student reflections, students’ fieldwork photos and photos of their visual storytelling through knowledge sharing activities. Using an ‘Affective Pedagogies framework’, I discuss different spaces in which students engaged in learning about disability and the inclusive city though emotion and affect. I highlight the way in which learning spaces might allow for struggle, joy as well as discomfort, as necessary for learning.
9 October 2024, Geodienst Lustrum: Making Spatial Connections, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
'Participatory mapping: Engaging people with disabilities in map making' - Julia Munuera Garcia (Speaker), Bettina van Hoven (Contributor), Jesse Lindenhovius (Contributor) and Madelief Fisher (Contributor)
We discuss how participatory mapping can be used to include people with disabilities in research about them. Accessibility in public spaces often overlooks the needs of people with disabilities, locking them out of place, segregated from the broader society. To explore accessibility and inclusion in public spaces, we collaborated with people with disabilities included as co-researchers in the project. Namely, we collaborated with clients at ‘s Heeren Loo (a care and house facility for people with disabilities). This collaboration highlights the importance of community-based participatory approaches, as these emphasize the shared decision-making between researchers and community members. We cover a case study in Groningen (the Netherlands), where co-researchers with disabilities helped create maps assessing accessibility in public spaces using the process of design thinking. Throughout the design thinking process, we used tools such as ArcGIS Field Maps and Survey123 to create and refine maps that captured different aspects of accessibility. We described the process of this participatory mapping through design thinking, as well as the benefits and challenges of this approach.
1 October 2024, Stedelijk Netwerk Diversiteit, Groningen, the Netherlands
'This Abled City' - Bettina van Hoven (Speaker)
27 August 2024, 35th International Geographical Congress, Dublin City University, Ireland
'Game Development as a Research Practice: Involving People with Disabilities in Research through Design Thinking Methodologies' - Julia Munuera Garcia (Speaker), Bettina van Hoven (Contributor) and Julia Doornbos (Contributor)
13 July 2024, Open Workshop: New Horizons in Geography with New Perspectives for Society and Space, Osaka University, Japan
''This Abled City' - Everyday Geographies of Being and Becoming Disabled' - Bettina van Hoven (Speaker)
18 June 2024, Praedinius high school students workshop, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
'De stad voor iedereen?' - Bettina van Hoven (Speaker), Leon Lodder (Speaker) and Julia Munuera Garcia (Speaker)
30 April 2024, Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA), Learning Planet Institute and Université Paris Cité, France
'Mapping the Inclusive City: Participatory Mapping and Design Thinking' - Julia Munuera Garcia (Speaker), Bettina van Hoven (Contributor) and Madelief Fisher (Contributor)
The research project "Mapping the Inclusive City" developed an interactive map for data collection, using smartphone-based technology and geospatial tools like ArcGIS, that allows wheelchair users in Groningen (the Netherlands) to assess accessibility in the city. The project used participatory methods and the design thinking process to develop the map in collaboration with clients at 's HeerenLoo, a care and housing facility for people with disabilities, as co-researchers. The project engaged co-researchers in the different stages of the research. This presentation focussed on the strengthens of participatory mapping through design thinking as an iterative process of co-designing a tool for data collection centred on its users.
17 April 2024, Royal Roads University, Canada
'Being and becoming disabled. Participatory (action) research with people with disabilities' - Bettina van Hoven (Speaker)
5 March April 2024, Radboud University, the Netherlands
'Affect, Arts and Didactics' - Bettina van Hoven (Speaker)
29 February 2024, Cities and Governance Seminar Series, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
'Mapping the Inclusive City' - Bettina van Hoven (Invited speaker), Julia Munuera Garcia (Invited speaker) and Madelief Fisher (Contributor)
During this seminar we presented the project “Mapping the Inclusive City”, a community-based participatory research project addressing the Geographies of Disability in the city of Groningen (the Netherlands). In this project, researchers at the University of Groningen (UG) and residents at ‘s Heeren Loo (an organisation that provides housing and care for people with disabilities) co-created an interactive map using smartphone technology (ArcGIS), which serves as a data collection method to map the accessibility and inclusivity of public spaces in Groningen. In this seminar, we explained how we used design thinking to enable people with different literacies, positionalities and skills to work together in research as co-researchers.
8 June 2023, Università di Trento, Italy
'Mapping the Inclusive City' - Bettina van Hoven (Speaker), Julia Munuera Garcia (Speaker) and Madelief Fisher (Speaker)
In this conference we presented on how can we include people with disabilities as equal partners of research. Although equality is difficult to achieve in this case, we proposed a method based on community-participatory research, design thinking and equity.
8 March 2023, Wageningen University, the Netherlands
'Carving Out the Space: a reflexive workshop on PAR' - Bettina van Hoven (Speaker)
