Letting Go in Sustainability Transitions

There is one thing, intrinsic to all life, unifying all beings around the globe, that all of us experience, but which, in many cultures, we try to suppress as best we can. That is: There is no life, there never will be, without death. When a loved-one dies, we need time and space to grieve and let go, while the everyday carries us along and urges us to pick up the threads, reshape life, build new relationships, and explore new avenues. But when our world collapses due to societal challenges, and we have to say farewell to practices, structures, and – in the end – certain ways of living, there hardly seems to be any consideration for grieving or letting go. Can we really embrace new futures regarding sustainability transitions, a small greener footprint, reduced consumption, etc., without any room for a process of mourning and releasing? In this chapter, we describe our vision on this often-overlooked part of designing for sustainability transitions. When talking about sustainability transitions, we refer to large-scale societal change processes in which radical changes challenge, alter and replace current dominant cultures, structures and practices to allow for and create more just and sustainable futures. In the following sections, we outline how design and transitions research, two disciplines addressing grand societal challenges, can become powerful partners is designing spaces for letting go.