Historical Evolution of Wicked Problems – Transition Design Seminar CMU

The Transition Design Approach Emphasizes:

The need to frame problems within radically large, spatio-temporal contexts that include the past (how the problem evolved over long periods of time), present (how the problem manifests at different levels of scale) and future (visions of the long-term future in which the problem has been resolved).

The n

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Transition Design argues that it is necessary to develop visions of the future and interventions in the present that are grounded in integrated and contextualized knowledge. For this reason future visions are developed, and wicked problems addressed, in the context of everyday life, the level at which society reproduces itself from one day to the n... See more

The need to create “ecologies of synergistic interventions” (solutions) that are connected to each other and the long-term vision as a strategy for transitioning entire societies toward a desirable, long-term futures.

The need to think and work for long horizons of time. Resolving wicked problems and transitioning entire societies toward sustainabl

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Designing interventions within a large, Transition Design project will require transdisciplinary teams working over long periods of time in a co-design process with stakeholders themselves. How can continuity be maintained over long periods of time when actors are continually changing?

Transition design focuses on everyday life in place as the primary context for intervening in wicked problems. Everyday life can be understood as an emergent property of people going about the activity of satisfying their needs. Understanding how people define their needs, and go about satisfying them (or failing to do so) is a key strategy for dev... See more

Transition Design argues that stakeholder relations are the “connective tissue” within wicked problems, and and these nuanced “systemic relations” must be ‘mapped’ and analyzed to serve as the basis for problem resolution

mindsets and postures often go unnoticed and unacknowledged but they profoundly influence what is identified as a problem and how it is framed and solved within a given context. Transition Design argues that it is important to understand the dominant worldview which underpins many wicked problems in order to envision new socio-economic- political-e... See more