Map/ing Sustainability

Map/ing Sustainability provides a framework for understanding and discussing the impacts of interventions in the context of sustainability. The method opens up space for transdisciplinary knowledge exchange: participants from different fields jointly analyze a project – a product, a service, or an artwork – and discuss its potential impacts. They contribute their expertise, identify implicit knowledge, and collectively reflect on assumptions. The diversity of perspectives leads to a more robust understanding of the particular project and its potential impacts.

The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) serve as the foundation for this dialogue, as a bridge between disciplines and forms of knowledge. Drawing on a model presented by the International Resource Panel (UNEP, 2024), the SDGs are divided into three groups: natural resources, provisioning systems, and well-being.

A project marks the center of the map as an input. Around it unfold the rings of effects: activities, outputs, outcomes, and impacts. At first, the analysis approaches the impacts intuitively – which SDGs might be linked to the project – and then works its way outward through the rings. This process is based on the concept of Theories of Change. The result is not a static image but a processual network of impacts revealing interdependencies and feedback loops.

Map/ing Sustainability was developed in the framework of transform.NRW and serves as the analytical foundation for curating the collection of Good Practices. The method promotes systemic thinking, critical reflection, and the recognition of design and arts as a catalyst for transformation.

The video provides preliminary insights into the application of this method. More information can be found in the sources below.

Sources

Fineder, M., Baedeker, C., Fastenrath, F., Kremser, K., & Liedtke, C. (2024). Design in Eco-Social Transformation Processes: An Exploratory Examination of Its Impact and Agency. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Impact and Consequences in Design DGTF ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2024 IN LUCERNE, 108–119. https://doi.org/10.25368/2024.DGTF.009

UNEP (ed.), “Bend the trend: Pathways to a liveable planet as resource use spikes,” International Resource Panel, 2024.