Transition design is a practice that proposes a radical change of future paradigms and systems, putting a key focus on sustainability. This framework brings attention to the idea of bringing long-term change by starting with short-term impacts in the present. Transitional designers draw on the interconnectedness of social, economic, political, and natural systems knowledge to create solutions in the present, with the holistic vision of the future in mind. These systems all work in a holarchy, where all components work as part of one whole system.
The key aspects of a transitional design framework outlined are a vision for transition, theories of change, mindset & posture, and new ways of designing (Irwin, Kossoff, Tonkinwise & Scupelli, 2015). Theories, knowledge, action and self-reflection from varied fields co-evolve with one another to shape this framework.
T. Irwin, G. Kossoff & C. Tonkinwise. Four areas of co-evolving knowledge and skillsets
Vision For Transition
A radical vision for our future is required in transition design processes. This framework proposes the development of future visions and inspires dynamic solutions toward long-term visions. Equipping a vision for transition allows designers to work through an iterative and open-ended design process, ultimately allowing designers to envision new ideas for the future.
Theories Of Change
Our conventional theories of change lie at the root of many wicked problems. These wicked problems must be informed by various ideas, theories and methodologies which touch upon different aspects of our dynamically changing society. Societal change requires our idea about "change" to be flexible and align with our changing world, and equipping flexible ideas around "change" enables us to challenge the current assumptions of our world. Ultimately aids us in discovering new ideas and methods for radical problem-solving.
Mindset & Posture
Our experiences, beliefs, values and expectations play a significant role in how we define, frame and solve real-world problems. Living through transitional times calls for self-reflection and shifting our mindset on how we exist and understand our world. Designers constantly examine their mindsets to achieve a holistic worldview to connect to wicked problems in many contexts. Often collaborative design processes are believed to achieve more holistic and desirable solutions.
New Ways Of Design Thinking
The objective of transition designs is to target wicked problems and create future-based solutions, and to assist this goal, single steps of design processes are taken to transition towards this long-term change. After developing visions of the future, designers connect with communities and organisations to create solutions that can take part in long-term transition solutions.
Strengths & Limitations - Comparison to other design models
Unlike the speculative and indigenous futurism design approaches, transition design opposes to pre-planned resolved solutions which rely on the potential of future technologies. Speculative design only proposes what solutions we could have in the future without immediate impact and no ways to determine its future success. Rather than purely fixating on what potential solutions can crop up in the future, transition design develops solutions that evolve over many steps to progress into long-term radical change. This signifies that transition design strategically designs solutions with short-term effects to transition into fundamental, long-term change for our future. But a possible down-side to this framework is that big change will only occur if individuals take on transitional design initiatives and actions, and may cost a lot of time.
The transition design framework is circular, leading to iterations of viable solutions for changing contexts and times and ultimately transitioning into a more compelling future-oriented design. Contrasting to this, the double diamond framework has a linear process of 4 separate steps within the research and design stages. The transition design framework focuses on the interconnectedness of many systems and stages and follows a holarchical process.
Backcasting is a unique approach to problem-solving that I have not encountered in any other design framework. The approach of backcasting in transitional design tackles bringing long-term vision to the present, and this leads the solutions in a step that transitions towards a desirable future. Doing this allows long-term goals and solutions to be scaled down to a design that is achievable in the present.
Transition design and indigenous futurism work with community members to bring about real change for the future. These frameworks incorporate past knowledge to survive sustainably from those who commonly get excluded by mainstream design narratives. However, the transition design framework does not bring attention to connecting with these groups. Rather, transition design works with multiple disciplines and not varying communities with different backgrounds.
Case study - Smog Free Bicycles
The Smog-free bicycle project takes part in the Smog-free project aiming to clear smog and air pollution (Roosegaarde, 2017). The Smog-free bicycle targets the global long-term issue of air pollution and specifically aims to clear the smog for better vision. Smog is a global crisis as air quality has been worsening exponentially due to global emissions. In 2021, America had about 67 million tonnes of pollutants emitted into the atmosphere (EPA, 2022). This project, led by Daan Roosegaarde, plans to achieve a clean future. With the corporation with community members and the government, these bikes provide local small-scaled solutions to clean the air in public spaces. As the bikes are cycled, it inhales polluted air and then filters out clean air back into the public space.
Smog Free Bicycle (Daan Roosegaarde, 2017)
Daan Roosegaarde works with "Ofo", China’s leading bike sharing programme to assist the creation of the project and support iterations through the design process. The government, community, clean-tech industry and project creators work together to create clean cities and, ultimately, a clean world.
This case study is a great example of transitional design, as it targets a large wicked problem but is scaled down to a local context. These bicycles provide a medium to clean the air and reduce smog. With more members of the community taking part in this project, it has great potential to be applied to a larger urban context to have a greater impact on the future. I believe this case study is more successful than the "Zero Waste Wellington" case study studied in class, which is a project run by community members. If one part of the system fails, the entire system may fall, as it is a circular economy. Whereas Smog-free bicycles do not rely on any system, individuals can take part by purchasing a bicycle and have no reliance on a system or economy. The Smog-free cycle project also is better applicable to many contexts and shows immediate effects, as the use of the bicycles filters out smog straight away. The Zero Waste Wellington case study requires time to plan, gather resources, and get community members on board.
References
United States Environmental Protection Energy (EPA). (June, 2022). Air Quality - National summary. https://www.epa.gov/air-trends/air-quality-national-summary
Daan Roosegaarde. (2017). Smog Free Bicycle. https://www.studioroosegaarde.net/project/smog-free-bicycle#:~:text=The%20bicycle%20works%20in%20a,clean%20air%20around%20the%20cyclist
Terry Irwin, Gideon Kossoff, Cameron Tonkinwise, and Peter Scupelli. (2015). Transition Design 2015. Carnegie Mellon Design. https://canvas.auckland.ac.nz/courses/72356/files/9142039?module_item_id=1549468
T. Irwin, G. Kossoff & C.Tonkinwise. Four areas of co-evolving knowledge and skillsets [Diagram]. Transition Design Seminar. https://transitiondesignseminarcmu.net/the-transition-design-framework/
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