Applied Transition Design for Socio-Ecological Outcomes: Local Movements, Incumbent Systems, and the Need for Agile Weaving

Wearne, S; Lee, T; Scardifield, K; Wakefield-Rann, R

Applied Transition Design for Socio-Ecological Outcomes: Local Movements, Incumbent Systems, and the Need for Agile Weaving

Wearne, S

Lee, T

Scardifield, K

Wakefield-Rann, R

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Publisher:: SAGE Publications
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: World Futures Review

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Wearne, S https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2860-3896
dc.contributor.author	Lee, T https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6065-0302
dc.contributor.author	Scardifield, K https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4112-2376
dc.contributor.author	Wakefield-Rann, R
dc.date.accessioned	2025-03-28T05:03:56Z
dc.date.available	2025-03-28T05:03:56Z
dc.identifier.citation	World Futures Review
dc.identifier.issn	1946-7567
dc.identifier.issn	2169-2793
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/186275
dc.description.abstract	<jats:p>Researchers often seek to enable sustainability transitions by helping new technologies or practices influence and change society in deep and transformative ways. There are inherent tensions in these ambitions, but they remain underexplored in the literature and practical experiences of our encounters with these tensions are similarly underdiscussed. This paper shares reflections and insights from a transdisciplinary project in Australia which explored how a more deliberate and critically reflexive approach to research could be pursued to enable a transition toward an algal bioeconomy. Presenting the project as a case study, we highlight how issues of place, materiality, aesthetics, and history can influence the role of research in socio-technical transitions in subtle and often unacknowledged ways. In the context of a nascent and contested bioeconomic vision for Australia, we contend that there is a need for researchers to challenge themselves with speculative, normative and plausible transition design projects, to build our collective capacity for deliberate and critical engagement in the futures that we pursue, or participate in, through our work. Specific practices that might help are raised and enabling conditions, such as a gap in the structure of Australia’s National Innovation System, are addressed in the discussion. In the face of these needs, challenges and opportunities, we conclude that a ‘systems weaver’ modality can offer clarity, agency and understanding to researchers and practitioners about the potential of their work and their role in systems change.</jats:p>
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	SAGE Publications
dc.relation.ispartof	World Futures Review
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1177/19467567251330204
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.title	Applied Transition Design for Socio-Ecological Outcomes: Local Movements, Incumbent Systems, and the Need for Agile Weaving
dc.type	Journal Article
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building/School of Design
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Provost
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Provost/TD School
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/New Faculty
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/New Faculty/School of Design
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.rights.license	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.date.updated	2025-03-28T05:03:54Z
pubs.publication-status	Published online

Abstract:

Researchers often seek to enable sustainability transitions by helping new technologies or practices influence and change society in deep and transformative ways. There are inherent tensions in these ambitions, but they remain underexplored in the literature and practical experiences of our encounters with these tensions are similarly underdiscussed. This paper shares reflections and insights from a transdisciplinary project in Australia which explored how a more deliberate and critically reflexive approach to research could be pursued to enable a transition toward an algal bioeconomy. Presenting the project as a case study, we highlight how issues of place, materiality, aesthetics, and history can influence the role of research in socio-technical transitions in subtle and often unacknowledged ways. In the context of a nascent and contested bioeconomic vision for Australia, we contend that there is a need for researchers to challenge themselves with speculative, normative and plausible transition design projects, to build our collective capacity for deliberate and critical engagement in the futures that we pursue, or participate in, through our work. Specific practices that might help are raised and enabling conditions, such as a gap in the structure of Australia’s National Innovation System, are addressed in the discussion. In the face of these needs, challenges and opportunities, we conclude that a ‘systems weaver’ modality can offer clarity, agency and understanding to researchers and practitioners about the potential of their work and their role in systems change.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/186275