Abstract:

The discipline of Transition Design, or design for transition, is concerned with designing systemic strategies aimed at medium-term futures, to address what can be described as complex and interconnected issues that exist on multiple levels of a system. According to Irwin (2019).

Transition design turns its attention towards two fundamental concepts:
(a) the idea that entire societies will face a transition towards sustainable futures, and
(b) the realisation that this will involve changes at a systemic level, triggered necessarily by a deep understanding of the anatomy and dynamics of complexity.

A Transition Design operation involves the transformation of design methods, which is already evident from the reference framework, composed of four mutually reinforcing and evolving areas of knowledge:
(a) vision,
(b) theories of change,
(c) mindset&posture,
(d) new ways of designing.

The Transition design framework includes a set of practices and knowledge derived from other disciplines and integrated into its principles, and envisages a mediating role for design itself, to facilitate multilevel and multistage socio-technical transitions. According to Irwin (2019) the set of these practices is useful for:
(a) visualising and mapping complex problems, their interconnections and interdependencies;
(b) positioning them in a broad spatio-temporal context;
(c) identifying and resolving conflicts between stakeholders;
(d) facilitating stakeholders in co-creating visions of desirable futures; and
(e) identifying vantage points for change within the complex problem and the socio-technical-ecological systems that form its context.

The second part of the paper addresses and proposes a comparison between transition and systemic product design, to highlight new virtuous practices also in a more traditional design framework. For Scupelli (2015) the approach to design and complex problem solving of transition design fulfill two conditions:
(a) they are used for the transition to a more sustainable society;
(b) the understanding of the interconnectedness of social, political and natural systems is aimed at improving the quality of life.

Products designed through this new methodology must fulfill the role of potential catalysts for transitions, and it is assumed that these can be translated into the development of further innovative products that reflect the characteristics of the new and emerging socio-technical system; this requires a transformation in design thinking to give importance to the concept of durability, the temporal dimension of the product and new value propositions: how to design, for example, something that survives the designer, passing from one generation of users to the next? Traditional design approaches, characterised by a linear process and a de-contextualisation of the problem, are inadequate to respond to an ever-increasing complexity; therefore, design schools need to adapt their courses and curricula to prepare the new generation of students to respond to the changes taking place. The last part of the paper aims at comparing the curricula of the School of Design of Politecnico di Milano and Carnegie Mellon University and in particular at taking a workshop course of the latter as a case study.

Keywords:

Transition design, Societal transitions, Sustainable futures, Design curricula, Value proposition, Systemic product design.