The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center's video: Boundary Spanning Opportunities Panel: Dr Joan Nassauer

Monday, June 11, 2018 SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS BY DESIGN Design as process and product in actionable socio-environmental science Dr. Joan Iverson Nassauer Both design processes and design products can act as boundary objects among disciplines, and between science and society. Design processes are well-developed as iterative methods for engaging stakeholders and interdisciplinary experts in solving problems. As innovations, design products can synthesize drivers representing varied disciplinary and stakeholder perspectives. Such innovations can serve as catalysts for actionable socio-environmental science that anticipates future conditions. However, the potential for scholars to employ design processes and the potential for design products to be integral to socio-environmental inquiry have yet to be realized. To explicate these potentials, I summarize two landscape change projects, one in agricultural Iowa, USA, and the other in urban Detroit, USA, that employ design as iterative process and as innovation product. Characteristics of design that have been important to the success of both projects are: - Highly engaged experts who are interested in learning from others in disciplines very different from their own - An iterative process that involves experts and stakeholders in different ways that are appropriate to their knowledge and interests and that builds trust among participants - Products that embody testable socio-environmental hypotheses - Products that establish a tangible common experience Finally, I reflect on these characteristics relative to papers contributed to the symposium design theme.