ABSTRACT
This chapter presents design for sustainability transitions and discusses its main sustainability benefits, limitations and unresolved issues, as well as its current and future research directions. Design for sustainability transitions (also known as transition design) focuses on the transformation of socio-technical systems. There are some methods, tools and frameworks developed by design researchers that are specifically related to designing transition experiments or assisting designers and design teams to actively influence transitions. A design-led approach in sustainability transition projects is aligned with the experimentation that is necessary to transform systems. Therefore, designers who uptake design for sustainability transitions are able to play several roles in operational, tactical and strategic activities that are part of transition projects. However, design for sustainability transitions is a high-level approach on its own and it needs to be supported by design approaches that are focused on the creation of specific design outcomes, including – but not limited to – product design, service design and policy design. Design for sustainability transitions as an emergent area would benefit from further theoretical development informed by empirical research.
