5.4.1 Transformative innovation and design

Simple sustainability is no longer sufficient in the face of numerous challenges that are convergent. There has already been much too much harm. We must rebuild environmental and community health, develop regenerative systems, and learn to think imaginatively in the face of unpredictability.

To accomplish this, we must actively engage in transformative innovation, which goes beyond “sustaining innovation” and “disruptive innovation,” as articulated by Clayton Christensen (1997). Any suggested advances should be assessed for their potential to be a first step toward regenerative cultures. Whole systems thinking that is integrative is necessary for transformative innovation. We are able to develop win-win solutions and create designs with systemic harmony. To do this, we must comprehend the interconnectedness of the convergent crises and respond to their complexity with an integrated and participatory strategy. We can develop solutions that help the individual, the community, and the ecosystem if we focus on the right size.

The term “resilience” has gained a lot of popularity, but few people have cared to delve thoroughly into the rich understanding that Forty years of research on change and ecosystem transformation has given us. Research on resilience provides crucial information for developing regenerative cultures. In order to keep our options open and prepare for the unexpected, we can build for transformative resilience. To do this, we must prioritize relationships and information flow, as well as diversity, adaptation, and redundancy at various sizes. The ability to anticipate potential futures, maintain our health and integrity, and adapt and change in response to the constantly changing socio-ecological systems in which we engage are all examples of transformative resilience.

Our grasp of how design will play a part in the next transformation has greatly increased over the past 20 years. Through the things, systems, and processes we produce, design is how our vision and value systems are expressed in our material culture. Our perspective and value systems are in turn shaped by previous design choices, much as the structures and cities we live in. Design is a dialogue that incorporates various viewpoints into culturally creative process.

It is obvious that there are boundaries to how much regenerative cultures can be designed. Our societies and cultures are complex dynamic systems just like all others, and they are inherently unpredictable and controlled. Design and the creation of unforeseen novelty must be understood as two sides of the same coin. We will be better able to design with modesty and careful consideration of systemic input as a result.