Designing the Transition

By Paola Bertola, Carmen Bruno, Erminia D’Itria, Silvia Maria Gramegna, Francesca Mattioli, Michele Melazzini and Xue Pei.

Designing the Transition. Seven design perspectives to build capacities for people, organisations and ecosystems addresses the urgent need for sustainable transformation by proposing innovative approaches that integrate design as a strategic force for systemic change.

The volume explores how design can build capabilities at multiple levels – individual, organizational, and ecosystemic – with the aim of demonstrating its potential as a driver of intentional, informed change. The book offers tools, methodologies, and new perspectives that help readers navigate the complex dynamics of sustainability transitions, supporting both interpretation and more effective action.

Structured in two parts, the book first introduces the ECODeCK project, a design-driven capacitybuilding model developed to support sustainable transitions in the manufacturing sector.

Visualisation of the ECODeCK Capacity building model, ch. 2, p. 32.

This initial section outlines its theoretical underpinnings, including the Sustainable Transition Competence framework and highlighting the role of design in enabling transformative learning processes.

The second part of the book articulates seven key perspectives through which design can interpret and guide sustainability challenges. Each perspective addresses a critical dimension of change – participatory action, collaborative systems, regenerative creativity, organizational culture, circular manufacturing, learning processes, and systemic change. The book thus highlights the potential of design to facilitate innovation not only in individual behaviors but also in the development of broader strategic interventions capable of shaping systemic transitions.

Visualization of the regenerative creative process, which constitutes the foundation of the ECODeCK model, ch. 6, p. 114.

In this way, design is presented not merely as a problem-solving tool, but as a mindset capable of enabling transitions toward a more resilient and sustainable future.

Designing the Transition is available in open access catalog on FrancoAngeli website.

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