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In the introduction of Conjunction: Transdisciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation we introduce 1) the aim of the journal, 2) the journal’s conception of transdisciplinarity as an important precondition for understanding contemporary processes and dilemmas of participation, 3) important trajectories in the existing literature on participation that focus on participation as linked to technological changes, to democratic processes of transferring power, and to complex social situations calling for analytical and evaluative frameworks able to grasp multiplicity and competing interests, and 4) the theme and articles of the this special issue: cultural participation and citizenship.

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In this introductions the authors frames the concept of participation as it works across a range of institutions and disciplinary contexts. The different institutional and disciplinary fields often interact indirectly by building on the same or interconnected ideals, logics and discourses or by using the same or similar theories. But it is quite rare that spaces enabling interaction and learning about cross-institutional and cross-disciplinary participation are created. This special issue is an attempt to do just that, and thus also to stress the importance of such transdisciplinary ‘spaces’ of learning and knowledge. By facilitating such transdisciplinary spaces this issue strives to: show how various disciplines understand, use and design ‘participation’; learn from already established insights and faults; potentially develop common understandings of what participation is; understand how ideal and processes of participation are linked to structures of power; and create better tools or models to explore, valuate and create participatory values, qualities and effects among researchers and practitioners. The articles in the issue are dealing with participatory processes in healthcare, political NGOs online, the cultural sector, education, employment and urban design.