Design, power, and transitions: A sensitizing framework

This article explores the relationship between design, power, and transitions by positioning a framework of five dimensions: agency, relationality, scale, temporality, and abduction. Thereby, it aims to open up new ways of doing and thinking design in contexts of societal transitions, complex systems, and polycrisis. Power is positioned as a multifaceted phenomenon that is implicit in many aspects of design, and that shapes the design process and outcomes by enabling and constraining the agency of design actors and participants. Each of the five dimensions provides a different conceptual angle to understand the relationship between design, power, and transitions, and is based on both empirical findings and theoretical synthesis. The article concludes by offering several pointers towards thinking and doing transition-design-as-power-work, and provides a set of reflexive questions for designers.