The Transition Design Seminar at CMU
The Transition Design Seminar was developed as a required course for doctoral students in Transition Design at Carnegie Mellon University and serves as an elective for master’s students across the campus.
Since 2016, the syllabus, readings, and resources for the course have been made available through an open-source website for educators, researchers, and practitioners interested in Transition Design and systems change. The course introduces students to diverse bodies of knowledge, frameworks, and theories related to the dynamics of change within complex systems—how these systems evolve over long periods of time.
The course has two core components: the Transition Design Framework, taught through a seminar format using assigned readings and facilitated discussion; and the Transition Design Applied Approach, which grounds the theory in practical application. The applied approach is used to teach systems thinking and the development of systemic solutions to wicked problems, and also serves as a tool for conducting stakeholder research.
The course is structured around five modules: 1) Wicked problems, 2) Social relations, 3) The historical evolution of a wicked problem, 4) Designing for transitions, and 5) Designing systems interventions. Each module has both assigned and supplemental readings that introduce new concepts and frameworks for understanding the systemic nature of wicked problems and the social relations that permeate them. The course also challenges students to think in longer horizons of time and to think creatively and rigorously about the long-term transition from a problematic present to a desired long-term future. Each module includes an applied exercise that guides students in framing a wicked problem within an expanded spatio-temporal context so that it can be understood well enough to develop truly systemic interventions.
The Transition Design Seminar website is intended as a resource for practitioners, educators, and researchers alike. An open-enrollment short course based on the seminar is now in development.