Empowering Sustainable Transitions: A Design-Led Capacity-Building Framework

Contemporary emergencies—environmental, social, political, cultural, technological, and productive— call for a radical rethinking of development models, supporting non-linear, decentralized, sustainable, and open solutions. In this context, plural design plays a strategic role by envisioning alternative scenarios, encouraging interdisciplinarity, and activating discontinuous innovation. Design must move beyond serving a single growth model, embracing multiplicity, collaboration, and inclusivity through contextual and interactive solutions. This is the framework of ECODeCK—ECO-Design Circular Knowledge, a project addressing the sustainable transition of Italy’s fashion and furniture sectors, which are tightly linked to both local and global socio-cultural systems. ECODeCK project adopts a design-driven approach that integrates systemic design and sustainability into business practices, supporting capacity-building that bridges theory and practice. The project introduces two tools: the Design for Sustainability (DfS) Framework and the Sustainable Transition Comp (ST Comp). DfS Framework maps the evolution from product-centered to ecosystemic design, across three levels: insular sustainability (technical solutions), responsible sustainability (circular business processes and stakeholder engagement), and ecosystemic sustainability (involving communities and policymakers in transformative strategies). ST Comp, meanwhile, offers a transdisciplinary training model built on four core competence areas: values for sustainability, systems thinking, design processes, and agency for change. It highlights design’s potential as a driver of cultural, economic, and social transformation. Building on these foundations, a design-based training model is being developed to support individuals, organizations, and ecosystems in co-evolving toward sustainable futures. Ultimately, ECODeCK promotes open and interactive development models, positioning design as a relational practice with meaningful local and global impact.