Transitions for a sustainable future

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This is the last of the four posts of this series where we have been discussing and suggesting pathways for a sustainable transition in the context of the socio-technical system of food production. For that, used different theoretical approaches for transition to explain how the socio-technical system of food production could have a more sustainable future.

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In our first post, we defined the concept of sustainable transition and its challenges, contextualizing in the agricultural sector, discussing also the role played traditionally by engineers in the development of socio-technical systems, such as the socio-technical system of food production.

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The second post offered a strategic approach to achieve a sustainable transition, exploring the possibilities that concepts like permaculture offer to create pressure and transform the current regime of mass production agriculture. For that purpose, we built upon the theoretical framework offered by Strategic Niche Management (SNM) to challenge the current regime towards a more sustainable direction. The third post focused on a different perspective of the socio-technical system of food production, analyzing how labeling of food could facilitate the transition to a more sustainable agriculture, using for that the approach of Transition Management.

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Finally, in this last post we use the ground established by the previous blog entries to discuss the role of Sustainable Design Engineers (SDE) as facilitators of the processes leading towards the sustainable transitions that the society of tomorrow needs.

 

For that purpose, we start by defining the role of SDEs is and, in addition to that, we propose a toolbox of different theoretical approaches that Sustainable Design Engineers count with, to analyze and manage sustainable transition, focusing in the ones that we have used in the previous posts of this blog (Strategic Niche Management and Transition Management).

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Sustainable Design Engineer? What is that supposed to mean? 

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At first, the concept may sound as a pretentious collage of bombastic words; some sort of entity that includes everything but, at the end, means nothing. However, if we analyze one word at a time, we begin to understand what is this all about.

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Sustainability

 

The concept has its origins in the beginning of the 18th century, related to the preservation of the forests, with a proposal of cutting fewer trees than the forest was able to grow, in order to ensure the supply of the main energy source at the time: wood (Carlowitz, 1713). However, even after three hundred years, sustainability remains a complex concept to define.

 

The Brundtland report (WCED, 1987) established some boundaries to define the concept, understanding sustainability as the harmonious balance of three pillars or categories: environmental, social and economic. However, in recent years, critics, such as Kuhlman & Farrington (2010), have raised a discussion about the limitation of these three categories when it comes to measure sustainability. In that sense, those critics argue that there is a conflict of interests between the social and the environmental sustainability and, in addition, there is no such separation between social and economic aspects of sustainability.

 

They propose, instead, two different approaches for sustainability, such as, weak and strong sustainability. The first one has a more economic approach to sustainability, meaning that economic measures can solve sustainable issues, whereas strong sustainability means that limits for resources consumptions should be defined in order to keep resources in the long term (Kuhlman & Farrington, 2010).

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Design

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The word design can allow several different interpretations, several professions are carrying this word and, in each case, can mean something specific. For example, in the case of product designers, design can be understood based on the materiality of products, such as, shapes, colors, materials and etc. Our approach to design could be understood as a reformulation of the concept of Design Thinking (Kimbell, 2011; Kimbell, 2012). In that sense, we understand design as an iterative process focused on a profound understanding of the user, its practices, context and needs. This approach requires a constant analysis, reframing and reformulation of the problem we work with, in order to generate valid solutions. In addition, the design process should be produced in a trans-disciplinary experience, where the designer acts as a mere facilitator of design and the actors involved are able to transcend their own boundaries.

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Engineer

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As we described in our first blog, historical engineering practices have facilitated the development of modern and industrialized societies. However, they are been based on a scenario of unlimited resources, not taking into consideration the consequences of the indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources and the environmental degradation (Bartlett, 1994). Furthermore, based on the work of Irwin (2015), we argued that engineers have to shift practices and matters of concern to become facilitators of sustainable transitions through an interdisciplinary process with a holistic vision, focusing not only in the technical aspects of solutions, but also on the users.

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Sustainable + Design + Engineer

 

Based on that discussion about sustainability, design and engineering, we can state that Sustainable Design Engineers could work as facilitators of multidisciplinary work processes with the capability of creating and developing products, services and systems. In that sense, SDEs are able to involve the different perspectives from different actors in the design process. In those experiences, the relevant actors can transcend their own boundaries and, as a consequence, they are able to achieve more holistic perspectives.

 

With that in mind, we can situate the role of SDEs as facilitators of change, being able to involve different actors and mobilize resources that will shape new socio-technical systems and, at the same time, challenge the current calculative standards to include a more sustainable agenda. For that purpose, SDEs have in Transition Theories a toolbox able to facilitate sustainable transitions.

 

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SDE’s toolbox: Transition Theories

 

As we established in our second and third posts of our blog, socio-technical systems are not easy to change. They are very stable, complex and enjoy a lock-in status that generates a path-dependency make them hard to overcome. However, to produce systemic transitions towards sustainability, we require some tools to gain an understanding of the different processes that can lead to a shift to a new socio-technical system. For that purpose, we discuss in this post the theories we have used in the previous posts and analyze the role of SDEs in each of them.

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Strategic Niche Management (SNM)

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First, we discuss Strategic Niche Management (SNM), which is a theory we used in the second post of our blog. In there, our goal was to design a transition strategy for a niche movement, exemplified in that case in permaculture. In that sense, our strategy focused on the creation of a protective space where permaculture could develop without succumbing to the pressure of the selection environment of the socio-technical system of food production.

 

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We found the SNM approach quite useful for describing and analysing the strategic role that niches play, emphasizing the importance the role of the SDE as facilitator of protecting, nurturing and empowering the novelties for them to be able to develop and, in a later stage, generate pressure in the socio-technical system to disrupt it. In the second post, we discussed that Permaculture could thrive in a shielding environment in a passive protected space. The role of the designer in this case is to make sure that the Permaculture movement does not compete in production with large-scale agriculture, since its prices are much lower, also not compete in the consumption point of view, because Permaculture propose a different connection with food, having a closer and deeper relationship with the environment where food is produced, going away from just buying from a grocery shop. Finally, the SDE has to point out all the problems regarding the existing regime, as we presented in our second post.

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Transition Management (TM)

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In our third blog, we use the strategic approach of Transition Management (TM) as a framework to discuss how food labelling could facilitate a sustainable transition in the socio-technical system of food production. TM results relevant to our case due to two aspects: first, food labelling is already situated within the socio-technical system of food production and, second, TM focuses on long-term visions for transition and short-term solutions at the same time, which offers more versatility to its implementation in our case.

 

In contrast to SNM, TM offers a better defined framework for achieving a transition. In that sense, the role of SDE is to recruit the right relevant actors to participate in the temporary space for negotiation or transition arena. In addition, Sustainable Design Engineers should facilitate the transition arena process as well as the organisation and monitoring of the rest of processes contained in the transition management.

 

At the organic labelling context, the role of a SDE starts by understanding what are the differences between the actors within the food system, then the SDE has to gather the relevant actors and define a common vision in a participatory process, meaning again, that the SDE should have play the role of facilitator. In our case the SDE has to gather the different representatives of the food system, for example, farmers, food industries, supermarkets, associations, NGOs and regulators in order to create a long term vision between these actors.

 

Organic labeling is still not standardized in a worldwide perspective, meaning that each country define their own regulations related to organic label. Therefore, there still a challenge that could be addressed by a SDE to create a common vision and standards between countries and regions, as we already have in the european region. Another discussion that we highlighted in the last post is how to convert organic food into the regime of the food system. In this case, the SDE needs to expand the view from the food system and involve other systems that are influenced by this transition, as for example, the health and the environmental systems that can could join forces for this transition.

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Conclusion

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In this final blog, we offered an overview of the different aspects and topics developed in previous entries of our blog, analysing and discussing the different theoretical approaches that we have used along the different posts to achieve sustainable transitions. We also discussed what a Sustainable Design Engineering entails and how SDEs can support sustainable transitions, defining the role of SDEs in the facilitation of multidisciplinary processes and coordinators of trans-disciplinary experiences for experimentation and negotiation in the processes of sustainable development.

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References:

 

Bartlett, A. a. (1994). Reflections on Sustainability , Population Growth , and the Environment Reflections on Sustainability , Population and the Environment, 16(1), 5–35.

 

Carlowitz, H. C. von. (1713). Sylvicultura oeconomica. (J. Huss & F. von Gadow, Eds.). Remagen-Oberwinter: Verleg Kessel. Retrieved 12/05/2018 at 16:00 from http://www.forstbuch.de/Carlowitz_1713_Informationen.pdf

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Irwin, T. (2015). Transition design: A proposal for a new area of design practice, study, and research. Design and Culture, 7(2), 229–246. https://doi.org/10.1080/17547075.2015.1051829

 

Kimbell, L. (2011) „Rethinking Design Thinking: Part I‟, Design and Culture, 3(3), pp. 285–306. doi: 10.2752/175470811X13071166525216.

 

Kimbell, L. (2012) „Rethinking Design Thinking: Part II‟, Design and Culture, 4(2), pp. 129–148. doi: 10.2752/175470812X13281948975413.

 

Kuhlman, T., & Farrington, J. (2010). What is Sustainability? Sustainability, 2(11), 3436-3448.

 

Loorbach, D.  (2010). Transition Management for Sustainable Development: A Perspective,  Complexity-Based Governance Framework. Governance: An International Journal of Policy,

Administration and Institutions, pp. 161-183.

 

WCED (World Commission on Environment and Development) (1987). Our Common Future; Oxford University Press: New York, NY, USA, 1987.

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