H. Goss
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In recent years, designers have increasingly engaged with sustainability transitions, using design and innovation activity to drive systemic change. However, we still have a limited understanding of how designers can best frame complex system dynamics to understand which innovations will foster desired changes. This study aims to better understand how design decisions are made when innovating for transitions and how to support this process. We take a research-through-design approach to explore the dimensions of scale and time and propose a conceptual framework to specify how to include these dimensions in framing transition challenges for design. In our view, exploring and specifying 1) systems principles that drive the future system, 2) organizational roles that stakeholders can play in the transition, and 3) changes in people’s behavior and capabilities that drive the transition, is key to identifying what future practice(s) to design for to foster desired transitions. We discuss the design activities and process artifacts developed and used to support our investigation into framing for transitions in a way that aligns short-term innovation efforts with long-term systemic change. Our contributions advance our understanding of framing in transition design, and we hint toward some of the design activities and process artifacts to support this.
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In recent years, designers have increasingly engaged with sustainability transitions, using design and innovation activity to drive systemic change. However, we still have a limited understanding of how designers can best frame complex system dynamics to understand which innovations will foster desired changes. This study aims to better understand how design decisions are made when innovating for transitions and how to support this process. We take a research-through-design approach to explore the dimensions of scale and time and propose a conceptual framework to specify how to include these dimensions in framing transition challenges for design. In our view, exploring and specifying 1) systems principles that drive the future system, 2) organizational roles that stakeholders can play in the transition, and 3) changes in people’s behavior and capabilities that drive the transition, is key to identifying what future practice(s) to design for to foster desired transitions. We discuss the design activities and process artifacts developed and used to support our investigation into framing for transitions in a way that aligns short-term innovation efforts with long-term systemic change. Our contributions advance our understanding of framing in transition design, and we hint toward some of the design activities and process artifacts to support this.
The Proof of the Pudding
Introducing quantitative testing in transition design reasoning
The urgent challenges of climate change, inequality, and declining societal well-being highlight the inadequacies of existing systems to meet sustainability goals. Transition design—a field at the intersection of design, sustainability science, and transition studies—has emerged as a response to these systemic issues. Despite growing interest in its practice, there remains a gap in understanding transition design processes, particularly regarding the effectiveness of resulting interventions in fostering systemic change. This study addresses this gap by proposing a conceptual framework that connects five essential transition design activities—navigating scales from micro to macro-level systems; considering temporality from the present to far future; engaging and repositioning actors from individuals and groups to networks; framing and designing from single solutions to portfolios; and practising reflexivity from activities to outcomes—to three evaluative qualities for its outcomes: desirability, plausibility, and networkedness of interventions. Using this framework, we assessed a portfolio of 21 proposed interventions that were designed to transition the Dutch food system to reduce food waste. Each intervention was presented as a drawing of a product-service system and was accompanied by a narrative of a user engaging with the intervention. The interventions were evaluated by consumers, companies, and experts through an embedded mixed-methods approach in which quantitative research was complemented by qualitative insights. Our findings reveal that while consumers and companies tend to favour near-future interventions that adapt existing food consumption practices, experts prefer long-term interventions that disrupt existing practices. Additionally, the results indicate that primarily quantitative evaluations may not sufficiently capture the complex, systemic qualities of transition design interventions, suggesting a need for a more balanced mixed-methods approach that incorporates context-sensitive insights. We conclude by reflecting on avenues for methodological development to improve evaluation as a (reflexive) transition design activity.
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The urgent challenges of climate change, inequality, and declining societal well-being highlight the inadequacies of existing systems to meet sustainability goals. Transition design—a field at the intersection of design, sustainability science, and transition studies—has emerged as a response to these systemic issues. Despite growing interest in its practice, there remains a gap in understanding transition design processes, particularly regarding the effectiveness of resulting interventions in fostering systemic change. This study addresses this gap by proposing a conceptual framework that connects five essential transition design activities—navigating scales from micro to macro-level systems; considering temporality from the present to far future; engaging and repositioning actors from individuals and groups to networks; framing and designing from single solutions to portfolios; and practising reflexivity from activities to outcomes—to three evaluative qualities for its outcomes: desirability, plausibility, and networkedness of interventions. Using this framework, we assessed a portfolio of 21 proposed interventions that were designed to transition the Dutch food system to reduce food waste. Each intervention was presented as a drawing of a product-service system and was accompanied by a narrative of a user engaging with the intervention. The interventions were evaluated by consumers, companies, and experts through an embedded mixed-methods approach in which quantitative research was complemented by qualitative insights. Our findings reveal that while consumers and companies tend to favour near-future interventions that adapt existing food consumption practices, experts prefer long-term interventions that disrupt existing practices. Additionally, the results indicate that primarily quantitative evaluations may not sufficiently capture the complex, systemic qualities of transition design interventions, suggesting a need for a more balanced mixed-methods approach that incorporates context-sensitive insights. We conclude by reflecting on avenues for methodological development to improve evaluation as a (reflexive) transition design activity.
Food waste matters
Staging design to foster societal transitions
In a world facing interconnected crises, there is a growing need for approaches that enable long term systemic transformation. Transition design is one such approach. As a specialised field at the intersection of design and sustainability transitions, it aims to guide societies toward desirable futures through systemic interventions. This dissertation advances transition design theory and practice by exploring how designers can stage their expertise to foster societal transitions. Through research in a transition in the Dutch food system, it examines visioning, framing, and evaluating as key areas of design expertise particularly relevant to transition processes.
With one-third of global food production wasted yearly, food systems face increasing strain. High levels of food waste deplete resources, harm the environment, worsen food insecurity, and incur significant economic costs. Reducing food waste is, therefore, critical for easing pressure on ecosystems and mitigating the effects of climate change. In the Netherlands, household waste is particularly prevalent, embedded in entrenched consumption patterns, making systemic change both urgent and complex.
Against this backdrop, the dissertation makes several contributions. It introduces adaptable consumption as an innovative practice to reduce food waste and enhance food system resilience, supported by an intervention portfolio. It provides methodological guidance for designers working across timeframes, actor networks, and scales, helping identify where and how to intervene in complex systems. Finally, it proposes evaluative qualities to assess whether interventions are desirable, plausible, and networked within transition pathways. These contributions enrich the emerging knowledge in transition design while equipping designers with practical tools for engaging with societal transitions. ...
With one-third of global food production wasted yearly, food systems face increasing strain. High levels of food waste deplete resources, harm the environment, worsen food insecurity, and incur significant economic costs. Reducing food waste is, therefore, critical for easing pressure on ecosystems and mitigating the effects of climate change. In the Netherlands, household waste is particularly prevalent, embedded in entrenched consumption patterns, making systemic change both urgent and complex.
Against this backdrop, the dissertation makes several contributions. It introduces adaptable consumption as an innovative practice to reduce food waste and enhance food system resilience, supported by an intervention portfolio. It provides methodological guidance for designers working across timeframes, actor networks, and scales, helping identify where and how to intervene in complex systems. Finally, it proposes evaluative qualities to assess whether interventions are desirable, plausible, and networked within transition pathways. These contributions enrich the emerging knowledge in transition design while equipping designers with practical tools for engaging with societal transitions. ...
In a world facing interconnected crises, there is a growing need for approaches that enable long term systemic transformation. Transition design is one such approach. As a specialised field at the intersection of design and sustainability transitions, it aims to guide societies toward desirable futures through systemic interventions. This dissertation advances transition design theory and practice by exploring how designers can stage their expertise to foster societal transitions. Through research in a transition in the Dutch food system, it examines visioning, framing, and evaluating as key areas of design expertise particularly relevant to transition processes.
With one-third of global food production wasted yearly, food systems face increasing strain. High levels of food waste deplete resources, harm the environment, worsen food insecurity, and incur significant economic costs. Reducing food waste is, therefore, critical for easing pressure on ecosystems and mitigating the effects of climate change. In the Netherlands, household waste is particularly prevalent, embedded in entrenched consumption patterns, making systemic change both urgent and complex.
Against this backdrop, the dissertation makes several contributions. It introduces adaptable consumption as an innovative practice to reduce food waste and enhance food system resilience, supported by an intervention portfolio. It provides methodological guidance for designers working across timeframes, actor networks, and scales, helping identify where and how to intervene in complex systems. Finally, it proposes evaluative qualities to assess whether interventions are desirable, plausible, and networked within transition pathways. These contributions enrich the emerging knowledge in transition design while equipping designers with practical tools for engaging with societal transitions.
With one-third of global food production wasted yearly, food systems face increasing strain. High levels of food waste deplete resources, harm the environment, worsen food insecurity, and incur significant economic costs. Reducing food waste is, therefore, critical for easing pressure on ecosystems and mitigating the effects of climate change. In the Netherlands, household waste is particularly prevalent, embedded in entrenched consumption patterns, making systemic change both urgent and complex.
Against this backdrop, the dissertation makes several contributions. It introduces adaptable consumption as an innovative practice to reduce food waste and enhance food system resilience, supported by an intervention portfolio. It provides methodological guidance for designers working across timeframes, actor networks, and scales, helping identify where and how to intervene in complex systems. Finally, it proposes evaluative qualities to assess whether interventions are desirable, plausible, and networked within transition pathways. These contributions enrich the emerging knowledge in transition design while equipping designers with practical tools for engaging with societal transitions.
Let's get flexible
Exploring adaptable consumption toward reducing household food waste in the Netherlands
Journal article
(2025)
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Hannah M. Goss, Jotte I.J.C. de Koning, Nynke Tromp, Hendrik N.J. Schifferstein
Food waste remains a critical global challenge, undermining sustainability and straining food systems. This study investigates adaptable consumption as a transformative strategy for reducing household food waste, emphasising its role in enhancing resilience within food systems. Adaptability of consumption empowers households to adjust food-related behaviours in response to changes in food availability, household needs, and other disruptions. Through cultural probes and semi-structured interviews with 11 Dutch households (43 participants), this study identifies five actionable opportunities for supporting consumers in more adaptability toward food waste reduction: 1) supporting flexible meal moments, 2) reclaiming food edibility, 3) reintegrating food into routines, 4) integrating feedback loops, and 5) playing into life-changing moments. These opportunities represent critical moments in time, behavioural routines, or dynamics where food waste-reducing behaviours can be successfully introduced and fostered. The study identifies practical recommendations within each opportunity, including implementing sensory-driven food labels to guide safe consumption decisions, introducing storage tools to minimise waste, and leveraging digital tools to provide actionable feedback, which can support households in adopting sustainable and waste-reducing practices. By integrating such interventions, stakeholders can enable households to adopt concrete, sustainable practices that align with systemic goals for food waste reduction and resilience.
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Food waste remains a critical global challenge, undermining sustainability and straining food systems. This study investigates adaptable consumption as a transformative strategy for reducing household food waste, emphasising its role in enhancing resilience within food systems. Adaptability of consumption empowers households to adjust food-related behaviours in response to changes in food availability, household needs, and other disruptions. Through cultural probes and semi-structured interviews with 11 Dutch households (43 participants), this study identifies five actionable opportunities for supporting consumers in more adaptability toward food waste reduction: 1) supporting flexible meal moments, 2) reclaiming food edibility, 3) reintegrating food into routines, 4) integrating feedback loops, and 5) playing into life-changing moments. These opportunities represent critical moments in time, behavioural routines, or dynamics where food waste-reducing behaviours can be successfully introduced and fostered. The study identifies practical recommendations within each opportunity, including implementing sensory-driven food labels to guide safe consumption decisions, introducing storage tools to minimise waste, and leveraging digital tools to provide actionable feedback, which can support households in adopting sustainable and waste-reducing practices. By integrating such interventions, stakeholders can enable households to adopt concrete, sustainable practices that align with systemic goals for food waste reduction and resilience.
Framing Across System Scales and Timeframes
Supporting designers in reasoning toward transition design interventions
Conference paper
(2025)
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Hannah M. Goss, Jotte I.J.C. de Koning, Nynke Tromp, Hendrik N.J. Schifferstein
In recent years, designers have been increasingly active in dealing with societal transitions, using design and social innovation to drive systemic change. Transitions are long-term processes of systems change toward more desirable alternatives. In transition design, designers conceptualise and implement transition interventions to influence people’s and society’s behaviours, practices, and lifestyles. However, little is known about the design processes that lead to such interventions or the reasoning patterns that support a design process toward conceptualising transition design interventions. In the present paper, we explore how a transition design rationale—a design rationale tailored to the complexities of transition challenges—supports designers in making design decisions and clear argumentations for how proposed interventions foster desired transitions. We present two studies that investigate the development and application of a transition design logical framework. The first study was a grounded theory study on design reasoning, in which designers in a consortium developed interventions to foster the transition of the Dutch food system to less food waste. In this first study, the designers applied the transition design logical framework to strengthen the design reasoning for intervention proposals. The second study consisted of two evaluative workshops with designers who applied the framework to design interventions that fostered desired systems changes. The findings indicate that our transition design logical framework supports designers in framing the transition context in a way that makes it manageable to design for, increasing confidence in the efficacy of proposed transition interventions. We found that a key challenge for designers’ reasoning toward transition interventions is articulating individual and system behaviour changes integrally. We conclude the paper by reflecting on avenues for methodological development to further support transition design reasoning toward interventions. Additionally, we call on the systemic and transition design communities to continue refining and expanding a shared repertoire of behaviour change mechanisms that can effectively drive systemic changes.
...
In recent years, designers have been increasingly active in dealing with societal transitions, using design and social innovation to drive systemic change. Transitions are long-term processes of systems change toward more desirable alternatives. In transition design, designers conceptualise and implement transition interventions to influence people’s and society’s behaviours, practices, and lifestyles. However, little is known about the design processes that lead to such interventions or the reasoning patterns that support a design process toward conceptualising transition design interventions. In the present paper, we explore how a transition design rationale—a design rationale tailored to the complexities of transition challenges—supports designers in making design decisions and clear argumentations for how proposed interventions foster desired transitions. We present two studies that investigate the development and application of a transition design logical framework. The first study was a grounded theory study on design reasoning, in which designers in a consortium developed interventions to foster the transition of the Dutch food system to less food waste. In this first study, the designers applied the transition design logical framework to strengthen the design reasoning for intervention proposals. The second study consisted of two evaluative workshops with designers who applied the framework to design interventions that fostered desired systems changes. The findings indicate that our transition design logical framework supports designers in framing the transition context in a way that makes it manageable to design for, increasing confidence in the efficacy of proposed transition interventions. We found that a key challenge for designers’ reasoning toward transition interventions is articulating individual and system behaviour changes integrally. We conclude the paper by reflecting on avenues for methodological development to further support transition design reasoning toward interventions. Additionally, we call on the systemic and transition design communities to continue refining and expanding a shared repertoire of behaviour change mechanisms that can effectively drive systemic changes.
Design capability when visioning for transitions
A case study of a new food system
In recent years, more designers have been engaging in transitions, for which design expertise is used to develop visions of long-term desirable futures. However, little is known about how design expertise is positioned in transition visioning processes. In this case study, we follow a design agency in envisioning a future food system for a consortium working on the food transition. Based on our findings, we unpack several tensions that emerge between the transition context and design expertise. Such as the tension for designers to explore alternative futures that challenge the current system yet support stakeholders in seeing their place in the future. We conclude by reflecting on avenues for methodological development to optimally position design expertise for visioning in transitions.
...
In recent years, more designers have been engaging in transitions, for which design expertise is used to develop visions of long-term desirable futures. However, little is known about how design expertise is positioned in transition visioning processes. In this case study, we follow a design agency in envisioning a future food system for a consortium working on the food transition. Based on our findings, we unpack several tensions that emerge between the transition context and design expertise. Such as the tension for designers to explore alternative futures that challenge the current system yet support stakeholders in seeing their place in the future. We conclude by reflecting on avenues for methodological development to optimally position design expertise for visioning in transitions.
Designing adaptable consumption
A new practice to foster food system transitions.
In recent years, more designers have been engaging in transitions for which design activity is used to develop innovations that steer change. However, little is known about how designers develop innovations to foster change along a desired transition path. In this short paper, we explore how designers can develop joint innovations that steer a transition of the Dutch food system to embrace flexibility and cater to enough. We present a new practice called Adaptable Consumption, which aims to realign food safety, quality, and sustainability. Based on our preliminary findings, we discuss how our process inspires reflections on the transition and reveals key indicators for collaborative change. We conclude by reflecting on areas of the process that need further exploration in order to stage the process and design expertise effectively in this highly complex transition context.
...
In recent years, more designers have been engaging in transitions for which design activity is used to develop innovations that steer change. However, little is known about how designers develop innovations to foster change along a desired transition path. In this short paper, we explore how designers can develop joint innovations that steer a transition of the Dutch food system to embrace flexibility and cater to enough. We present a new practice called Adaptable Consumption, which aims to realign food safety, quality, and sustainability. Based on our preliminary findings, we discuss how our process inspires reflections on the transition and reveals key indicators for collaborative change. We conclude by reflecting on areas of the process that need further exploration in order to stage the process and design expertise effectively in this highly complex transition context.
Digital or visual products
(2022)
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H. Goss, N. Tromp, Hendrik N.J. Schifferstein, Erica van Herpen, Nikita Sharda, Yi Zhang, Ellen J. van Loo, Jenny van Doorn, More Authors..., F.J.N. Trimbach
How will we consume food in the future? How will our food system meet the rising food demand while mitigating the negative consequences of food production and consumption? These questions drove the Food Waste: From Excess to Enough (FETE) research team to envision a new food system. [...]
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How will we consume food in the future? How will our food system meet the rising food demand while mitigating the negative consequences of food production and consumption? These questions drove the Food Waste: From Excess to Enough (FETE) research team to envision a new food system. [...]
Mapping Transition Readiness
A model for identifying how and where design can intervene in system transi-tions
Designers are increasingly tackling complex societal challenges and fostering system transitions. Transitions are long-term, multi-level, multi-phasal system changes involving numerous actors, requiring innovations that develop new relationships within the system. Therefore, the process of designing for transitions requires new ways of bridging system analysis and system synthesis. This paper explores the concepts of ‘transition readiness’ and ‘value conflicts’ as valuable indicators to bridge this gap and support designers in fos-tering system transitions. Synthesizing insights from literature and previous experience, we propose a first step towards an integrative model for mapping a system transition in a way that inspires design. Our model, called the Transition Readiness Profiles, anticipates the dynamics of a system transition and helps identify how and where design can inter-vene to accelerate the transition. It analyzes the transition at the individual-, organization-, and system level to understand the system dynamics and reveal what organizations can bring forward to foster the transition relative to others. The Profiles capture the relational dimension of a transition by mapping readiness, value conflict, and stakeholder relation-ships and dependencies.
...
Designers are increasingly tackling complex societal challenges and fostering system transitions. Transitions are long-term, multi-level, multi-phasal system changes involving numerous actors, requiring innovations that develop new relationships within the system. Therefore, the process of designing for transitions requires new ways of bridging system analysis and system synthesis. This paper explores the concepts of ‘transition readiness’ and ‘value conflicts’ as valuable indicators to bridge this gap and support designers in fos-tering system transitions. Synthesizing insights from literature and previous experience, we propose a first step towards an integrative model for mapping a system transition in a way that inspires design. Our model, called the Transition Readiness Profiles, anticipates the dynamics of a system transition and helps identify how and where design can inter-vene to accelerate the transition. It analyzes the transition at the individual-, organization-, and system level to understand the system dynamics and reveal what organizations can bring forward to foster the transition relative to others. The Profiles capture the relational dimension of a transition by mapping readiness, value conflict, and stakeholder relation-ships and dependencies.