Designing Oppositional Micro-Institutions for Systems Change

Abstract

The technological and market-based solutions offered by hegemonic institutional actors have proven insufficient to tackle the intersecting global issues referred to as the “polycrisis”. Alternative institutional forms must be developed to catalyse transitions to more sustainable and just futures. This process is underway in the peripheries of the dominant world-system, as oppositional micro-institutions emerge and consolidate, seeking to destabilise unsustainable ways of being. This paper frames a process of co-creating micro-institutions as an object of design and suggests how designers may act tangibly to create the necessary conditions for systemic transformation. We present three cases of oppositional micro-institution development based on empirical research conducted between 2020 and 2024: (1) Place-based collectives in Australia’s Hunter Valley, promoting just transitions from coal; (2) a movement for regenerative economics in Sydney; and (3) South American networks for seed sovereignty. The cases share eight concurrent and cyclical phases of institutionalisation: i) Assembling loose collectives; ii) Identifying points of leverage; iii) Orientating alternative visions; iv) Growing communities of practice; v) Iterating alternative forms; vi) Concretising the trajectory; vii) Demonstrating legitimacy; viii) Further institutionalising alternatives. To aid this process, designers can play a role in: i) Surfacing shared issues; ii) Mapping opportunity areas; iii) Materialising alternatives; iv) Convening unusual alliances; v) Stewarding reflection and refinement; vi) Co-creating stabilisers; vii) Showcasing micro-institutions; viii) Scaling out learnings. We offer the framework to provoke discussion among design scholars on the practicalities of working in the service of sustainability transitions, and to encourage practitioners to mobilise design itself as an oppositional practice to transform unsustainable systems. This paper frames a process of co-creating micro-institutions as an object of design and suggests how designers may tangibly act to create conditions for systemic transformation. We present three cases of oppositional micro-institution development based on empirical research conducted between 2020 and 2024: (1) Place-based collectives in Australia’s Hunter Valley promoting just transitions from coal; (2) a movement for regenerative economics in Sydney; and (3) South American networks for seed sovereignty. The cases share eight concurrent and cyclical phases of institutionalization: i) Assembling loose collectives; ii) Identifying points of leverage; iii) Orientating alternative visions; iv) Growing communities of practice; v) Iterating alternative forms; vi) Concretizing the trajectory; vii) Demonstrating legitimacy; viii) Further institutionalizing alternatives. To aid this process, designers can play a role in: i) Surfacing shared issues; ii) Mapping opportunity areas; iii) Materializing alternatives; iv) Convening unusual alliances; v) Stewarding reflection and refinement; vi) Co-creating stabilizers; vii) Showcasing alternatives; viii) Scaling out learnings. We offer the framework to provoke discussion with design scholars on the practicalities of working in service of sustainability transitions, and to encourage practitioners to mobilise design itself as an oppositional practice to transform unsustainable systems.