Managing the Unknowns of Transitions: designing creative preservation involving unconventional co-designers

Contemporary discourses on transitions (ecological, sustainability, energy,…) oppose their inevitability (to avoid chaos, transition will occur no matter the cost) and their infeasibility (technical obstacles, societal ‘resistance to change', business costs will prevent transitions) – but analysing this dichotomic opposition precisely reveals that there are many unknowns in transitions, and, from a management science point of view, the issue is less about a sacrificial dilemma between ‘pros and cons' an more about the management of these unknowns of transitions and the design of new paths beyond fixations. Based on recent results in the literature, and on one empirical famous case of transition, the CFC ban (unanimously considered as a success, considering the progressive recovery of the ozone layer), this paper synthesizes key results in the management of the unknown of transitions: 1) this management favors the design of new decisions, beyond sacrificial dilemma; 2) This design oriented management explores innovations that can be described as creative preservation, instead of creative destruction; 3) This design-oriented management involves unconventional co-designers, engaged in multiple design processes that, quite counter-intuitively, could be scattered and even non-coordinated (or rather: their coordination ‘in the unknown of transition' might appear paradoxical).