Shifting practice from silos of thought to systems thinking through the transdisciplinary sustainability transitions framework
- 1Center for Energy, Environment and Economy (CEEE/ECEM), Ozyegin University
Abstract
The urgency of global sustainability challenges demands not only innovative solutions but also a fundamental rethinking of how transitions are designed, governed, and practiced, one that requires systemic thinking, diverse perspectives, and collaboration across disciplinary and organizational boundaries. Although sustainability transitions research has grown significantly, organizations still lack practical, process-oriented guidance for navigating complex, multi-actor change. The central challenge is not the absence of strategies, but the absence of intentionally designed processes that enable collective sense-making, experiential learning, and internal capacity building. This paper addresses this gap by introducing and empirically examining the Transdisciplinary Sustainability Transitions Framework (TSTF): a staged approach centered on participant experience that enables organizational sustainability transitions through experiential learning, collective visioning, and transdisciplinary co-creation. The TSTF is grounded in the premise that organizational sustainability transitions begin with people: the cognitive and emotional shifts through which individuals develop shared understanding, collective agency, and the internal orientation required to act on sustainability. The framework positions experiential and iterative learning as the primary driver of transformation, recognizing that without this internal human transformation, even the most well-designed sustainability strategy risks remaining an external document rather than an internalized commitment. The framework is examined through three organizationally anonymized case studies conducted in different sectors. Instead of evaluating predefined sustainability outcomes, the analysis focuses on process dynamics, cognitive and relational shifts, and the emergence of transition capacities. By proposing the TSTF as a transition infrastructure rather than a prescriptive strategy model, the paper offers theoretical, empirical, and practice-oriented insights into how sustainability transitions can be enabled through transdisciplinary collaboration and internal ownership.
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BibTeX
@article{otkun2026shifting,
title = {{Shifting practice from silos of thought to systems thinking through the transdisciplinary sustainability transitions framework}},
author = {Gokce Otkun and M. Pinar Menguc},
journal = {Discover Sustainability},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1007/s43621-026-04132-6},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04132-6},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Shifting practice from silos of thought to systems thinking through the transdisciplinary sustainability transitions framework
AU - Gokce Otkun
AU - M. Pinar Menguc
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/01
JO - Discover Sustainability
DO - 10.1007/s43621-026-04132-6
UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04132-6
AB - The urgency of global sustainability challenges demands not only innovative solutions but also a fundamental rethinking of how transitions are designed, governed, and practiced, one that requires systemic thinking, diverse perspectives, and collaboration across disciplinary and organizational boundaries. Although sustainability transitions research has grown significantly, organizations still lack practical, process-oriented guidance for navigating complex, multi-actor change. The central challenge is not the absence of strategies, but the absence of intentionally designed processes that enable collective sense-making, experiential learning, and internal capacity building. This paper addresses this gap by introducing and empirically examining the Transdisciplinary Sustainability Transitions Framework (TSTF): a staged approach centered on participant experience that enables organizational sustainability transitions through experiential learning, collective visioning, and transdisciplinary co-creation. The TSTF is grounded in the premise that organizational sustainability transitions begin with people: the cognitive and emotional shifts through which individuals develop shared understanding, collective agency, and the internal orientation required to act on sustainability. The framework positions experiential and iterative learning as the primary driver of transformation, recognizing that without this internal human transformation, even the most well-designed sustainability strategy risks remaining an external document rather than an internalized commitment. The framework is examined through three organizationally anonymized case studies conducted in different sectors. Instead of evaluating predefined sustainability outcomes, the analysis focuses on process dynamics, cognitive and relational shifts, and the emergence of transition capacities. By proposing the TSTF as a transition infrastructure rather than a prescriptive strategy model, the paper offers theoretical, empirical, and practice-oriented insights into how sustainability transitions can be enabled through transdisciplinary collaboration and internal ownership.
SN - 2662-9984
ER -