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Imagining Transitions: Designing a visioning process for systemic urban sustainability futures

Format: Papers, RSD6, Topic: Architecture & Planning

Idil Gaziulusoy and Chris Ryan

Cities have become the locus of sociotechnical and socioecological transition processes aimed at achieving sustainability. Sustainability transitions are defined by structural changes unfolding across different phases with varying pace and a large number of diverse actor networks engaging over the long term. With these characteristics, transition projects are archetypal examples of wicked problems both during their conception and execution. The shift in transitions theory and practice from a sectoral focus to a focus on cities increased the systemic complexity that needs to be considered in transition projects with methodological implications. This paper reports and reflects on the design of a visioning process used in the front end of the Visions and Pathways 2040 project; a project that aimed at developing visions, scenarios and pathways for transitioning to low-carbon and resilient futures in Australian cities. Visions and Pathways 2040 adopted complex adaptive systems view of cities, avoiding considering city support systems in isolation from each other or from the built, social and natural environments they are embedded in. The visioning process engaged professionals, researchers and designers to build systemic visions in five iterative rounds in a half-day workshop. We discuss what we have achieved.

Keywords: urban transitions, systemic design, design for sustainability, Australia

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Citation Data

Author(s): Idil Gaziulusoy and Chris Ryan
Year:
Title: Imagining Transitions: Designing a visioning process for systemic urban sustainability futures
Published in: Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design
Volume:
Article No.:
URL: https://rsdsymposium.org/
Host:
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Symposium Dates:
First published: 12 October 2017
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Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design (ISSN 2371-8404) are published annually by the Systemic Design Association, a non-profit scholarly association leading the research and practice of design for complex systems: 3803 Tønsberg, Norway (922 275 696).

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Open Access article published under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License. This permits anyone to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or form according to the licence terms.

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Author(s). (20##). Article title. Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design, RSD##. Article ##. rsdsymposium.org/LINK

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