Sustainable Transitions through Democratic Design

CoDesign4Transitions will develop a cohort of 10 transdisciplinary Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs) at the intersection of co-design, design for sustainability, service and systems design, democratic innovation and climate transitions, who will be equipped and empowered to develop new theories, approaches, and validated prototypes for action. This is urgent to enable governments, businesses and civil society organisations (CSOs) to develop and deliver multi-level societal solutions required to achieve net zero targets committed to in the Paris Agreement. Design is central to achieving this because of its well-established creative capacities for enabling small-scale experimentation to de-risk solutions through prototyping, synthesising ideas and evidence into materials and visual forms for engaging the stakeholders in exploration of dilemmas and contested topics, and facilitating participation in innovative change. In the politicised domain of sustainability transitions, where issues of identity, equity and diversity provoke disruptive responses, design provides a connective tissue essential to engaging publics through democratic innovation towards delivering net zero transitions.