On the Road of Discovery with Systemic Exploratory Constellations: Potentials of Online Constellation Exercises about Sustainability Transitions
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Context: Systemic Exploratory Constellations and Sustainability Transitions
2.1. What Are Exploratory Constellations?
2.1.1. First Order Contingency
2.1.2. Second Order Contingency
2.1.3. Explication
2.2. Sustainability Transitions and Societal Transformation: Moving from Weak to Strong Sustainability Narratives
3. Methods and Research Design
3.1. Research Design of the Online Constellation
3.2. Constellation Format, Process and Data Analysis
4. Findings
4.1. Context A—Germany
4.2. Context B—Portugal
4.3. Participants’ Feedback
5. Discussion: On the Road of Discovery—Emerging New Assumptions and Questions
- (i)
- A strong sustainability narrative does not (necessarily) lead to action and transformation.
- (ii)
- Transformation requires integrating narratives beyond weak and strong sustainability
6. Conclusions—Potentials of (Online) Exploratory Constellations for Sustainability Research
- (1).
- With regard to sustainability transitions and transformations, exploratory constellations constitute an excellent opportunity for interaction between academic and non-academic actors and for exploring together the underlying dynamics for effective structural change. With the support of an experienced constellation facilitator, they can be fruitfully integrated into collaborative and transdisciplinary research;
- (2).
- Constellations are excellent entry points for asking new questions;
- (3).
- Exploratory constellations help develop meta-narratives and can therefore be powerfully combined with narrative research and second order transformation research, or similar approaches.
- (4).
- Online constellations allow a very flexible set-up that can relatively easy bring together not only people from diverse backgrounds, but also from different geographic locations, increasing the interaction between people who otherwise would be confronted with more difficulties or even barriers to meet. Practically, all the advantages of online collaboration apply, with the additional benefit of also exploring together the virtual space from a different perspective;
- (5).
- Online constellations can visualize powerfully questions of significance. One novelty in the online format is that the representatives can not only move around, but change their shape and size, whereas in physical constellations, this would not be possible;
- (6).
- Online constellations offer a constant bird-eye view of the system. Participants as representatives in a constellation exercise can position themselves in the field while continuously being able to see the whole system. Thereby, online constellations provide the unique opportunity for a second order observation, i.e., a self-reflective observation from inside and outside the system at the same time.
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Topic | Hidden Knowledge about Dynamics in Sustainability Transitions Processes |
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Question/Goal | What are the different needs of selected social actors for a sustainable transformation in Germany and Portugal? > Content-based: system visualizations and new assumptions concerning sustainability transitions and transformation > Method-based: application of online constellation work to derive potentials for virtual collaboration and transdisciplinary sustainability research |
Constellation | Pre-test and online constellation during International Sustainability Transitions Conference 2020 (IST 2020, Dialogue session 546, http://ist2020.at/dialogue-sessions/ (accessed on 29 April 2021)) |
Participants | Issue-holders and session hosts: Antje Disterheft and Denis Pijetlovic Facilitator: Antje Disterheft Representatives: three experienced researchers/practitioners as participants of the conference IST 2020 Observers: 11 conference participants for the whole session (14 participants in total, 2 session hosts) |
Date | 21 August 2020 |
Duration | 1.5 h (including an introduction and short reflection) |
Research design | Exploratory research and action research |
Data collection | Observation, screen shots, field notes, participants’ feedback |
Data preparation | Protocol, systematization of data, joint reflection |
Data interpretation | Interpretative-hermeneutic method |
Instructions for Representatives | Instructions for Observers (Audience) |
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| (Note: Image was not visible for the representatives) |
| You are invited to observe the process with an open mind and heart. Please take notes along the process, i.e.,: What seems to be coherent to your (current) understanding or point of view? What is strongly different from your expectations? What causes confusion or confounds you? Coherence feels more pleasant and may comfort us, but confounds, i.e., anything that confuses or surprises us because it is different to what we expected, are interesting and may lead us to some hidden knowledge. |
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Disterheft, A.; Pijetlovic, D.; Müller-Christ, G. On the Road of Discovery with Systemic Exploratory Constellations: Potentials of Online Constellation Exercises about Sustainability Transitions. Sustainability 2021, 13, 5101. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095101
Disterheft A, Pijetlovic D, Müller-Christ G. On the Road of Discovery with Systemic Exploratory Constellations: Potentials of Online Constellation Exercises about Sustainability Transitions. Sustainability. 2021; 13(9):5101. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095101
Chicago/Turabian StyleDisterheft, Antje, Denis Pijetlovic, and Georg Müller-Christ. 2021. "On the Road of Discovery with Systemic Exploratory Constellations: Potentials of Online Constellation Exercises about Sustainability Transitions" Sustainability 13, no. 9: 5101. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095101