Advancing Sustainability Transformations - Co-design for Sustainable Development Policies

We are living in an era of multiple environmental and social crises. Sustainability transformations are needed since no country has reached sustainability as yet and none are on the way to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Multiple challenges with SDG implementation have been identified, such as the integration and coordination of cross-sectoral topics, policy coherence, institutional capacities and local contextualisation. There is a call for new mechanisms with which to guide nations towards sustainability. Co-design for transitions, or transition co-design, is an emerging area, bringing together the scholarships of collaborative design and transition management. More empirical studies are needed on what transition co-design actually means and what it can offer for sustainability transformations, especially in the governance and policy contexts. This dissertation contributes to this research gap by empirically studying sustainable development policies and the possibilities for co-design to advance them. The research consists of four case studies approaching the topic from different angles, ranging from national to local SDG implementation, as well as from broad, systemic sustainable development topics to the narrower target of increasing renewable energy production in housing companies. The research is based on qualitative methods, including document analysis, interviews and co-design workshops. It consists of five interrelated articles. The findings of the research highlight the role of small wins in sustainability transformations. While sustainable development policy that is only based on small wins can be too incremental and slow to meet the sustainability challenges of our time, the small wins seem to pave the way for more transformative policy changes. However, to achieve sustainability transformations, small wins need to contribute to a shared ambition at a higher level. The research introduces a policy edition of the transition arena, wherein some of the earlier assumptions have been readjusted to cope with policy realities, thus enabling the tools' closer integration into official policy processes. The policy edition was developed and tested during the creation of the national sustainable development strategy, led by the Prime Minister's Office, Finland. According to the results, this method can provide a safe space for facilitated discussion on difficult topics with conflicts of interests. After co-designing positive future visions and mid-range transition pathways, the participants of transition arenas experienced increased understanding of complex systemic changes and better understood the agency of different actors in sustainability transformations. The final strategy raises difficult, transformative topics as being important for further work. While there is a need for more empirical studies on the topic, the research recommends utilising transition co-design methods in the agenda-setting phase of complex sustainability-related policy processes.