2nd April 2021

9 ways to save the world: Takram unveils new research on the route to a sustainable future

Harnessing The Pandemic To Take Action On Climate Change. Adapted from The curves beyond the curve, Slowdown papers, 7 April 2020.

The world’s at a tipping point. We know the old ways don’t work, that rapid-growth capitalist models are not sustainable, that fossil fuels are no longer viable, that linear production models are ravaging the world’s resources, and that time is running out. We know all this. But we're not doing anything like enough about it.

Global innovation studio Takram has revealed the results of an extensive year-long research project with Hitachi – a roadmap to a viable global future created in collaboration with a dozen of the world’s leading minds and institutions in the field of sustainability. They include: Arup, Human After All, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the International Energy Agency and Hitachi’s R&D Group.

The report is rooted in the principles of transition design – a mode of design thinking shaped by the recognition that it’s impossible to imagine transformational future outcomes when you’re embedded in the paradigms of the present. By focusing on transition – the process of change rather than the outcome – we can get a fuller picture of how to build a sustainable future.

Brought compellingly to life on a new website, the ‘Transitions to Sustainable Futures' report is a clarion call for a comprehensive multi-dimensional transformation in our way of life. No more quick fixes or pinning our hopes on technology – just nine clear-cut, concrete and consensus-driven transitions that, together, might just save our world.

https://sustainability-transitions.com

Takram's nine transitions bring together key ideas which make change possible.

The nine transitions

1. Fossil to renewable

Complete transition to renewable energy is an inarguable global priority. The International Energy Agency outlines the three key changes necessary to move to a renewable energy economy – power sources, end use and public behaviour; while the Renewable Energy Institute looks at the challenges and opportunities particular to Japan, its politics and culture.

2. Fast to slow

Arup alumnus strategic director at Swedish government innovation agency, Vinnova, Dan Hill explains how the pandemic broke the dominant rapid-growth productivity model and enabled us to glimpse the possibilities of slowing down. At the heart of this is the concept of Universal Basic Infrastructure – the idea that everyone has a right to the fundamental societal services that support life.

3. Degenerative to regenerative

With the earth's flora and fauna deteriorating fast, and disturbance of nature increasing the likelihood of ‘spillover' events such as coronavirus, we are on the threshold of irreparable environmental breakdown. Nevertheless, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPGES) believes a sustainable world – where human impact is always reversible – might still be achievable.

4. Centralised to distributed

Disenfranchised, alienated citizens feel powerless and uninvested in society. Professor Yuji Yoshimura of the University of Tokyo argues that effective democratic engagement is dependent not on a formula, but a co-creative approach to community planning – exemplified by Barcelona allocating 5%of its investment budget to be allocated by citizens.

5. Extractive to just

Japanese non-profit Kiko Network explores the tension between the need for climate action and the will of local citizens, who can fail to engage with or obstruct climate initiatives as a result of social and economic inequalities. Media communication has a key role to play.

6. Zero-sum to balanced

The binary opposition of prosperity vs sustainability is a false one. Arup argues that there is a pathway to a post-Anthropocene era where humans and nature can thrive in tandem, but it depends on how individuals, corporations and governments respond to the challenges not the present. Japan’s Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) agrees that a net-zero society can be a prosperous one, dependent on the establishment of a circular economy, widespread electrification, and digital transformation of services and businesses.

7. Profitable to purposeful

Creative agency Human After All advocates for a revolution in business metrics, calling for an end to profit as the sole measure of commercial success as it encourages short-term thinking – a structural cause of global issues ranging from climate breakdown to inequality. With a ‘triple bottom line’ model, companies can mature success by their social and environmental value as well as the profit they generate.

8. Mechanistic to systematic

The world is not simple, granular and contained, but complex, interconnected and intersectional. It is only by appreciating and understanding these systems that we can develop radical solutions to problems such as climate change. The non-profit Forum for the Future has defined five interrelated dynamics that will shape the decade ahead.

9. Linear to circular

The environmentally destructive take-make-waste economic model is no longer viable. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is calling for technology and industry to adopt holistic circular models that design out waste altogether.

The Power Of Visual Communication. Adapted from Weapons of Reason, Human After All (2020).

Together, these insights develop provocative new ways of understanding the big issues of today – from the climate crisis to democracy, technology and design.

Based in Tokyo, London and New York, Takram is an innovation design agency that works with brands and organisations including Sony, Toyota and Google on everything from brand design to future-mapping. Projects include: Global study on transformative creativities in the age of crisis; making sea level rise more tangible through AR; and reducing data to make better decisions. Much of their thinking is concerned with transition design – the growing cross-disciplinary approach aimed at addressing problems confronting 21st-century societies.