Reframing sustainability challenges

Abstract

‘Framing’ is a key concept in the pathways approach which was developed and applied in the design and implementation of the project. This chapter draws on various hub case studies and explains how each of them contributes to our understanding of reframing as an element of transformations to sustainability. Referring specifically to the Argentina, Mexico and UK case studies, the chapter discusses how each of the T-lab processes helped to reframe understandings of the systems under investigation and their associated problems, reframe the values and meanings associated with those systems and reframe the solutions to the sustainability challenges that had been identified. The chapter discusses the interactions between reframing, alliance building and innovation and concludes by considering how cognitive lock-ins that resist transformative change can themselves be addressed by reframing processes.