Robust meaningmaking – paving the way towards a system understanding

Abstract

Given the context of a multi-actor innovation project, this case study aims to study the experience of the representative actors involved to answer our research question. The aim of the thesis was to identify how a short-term multi-actor project, characterized by spanning interests and partly conflicting agendas, can contribute to sustainability-oriented innovation. Our analysis revealed how the three robust action strategies participatory architecture, multivocal inscription and distributed experimentation come into play, specifically, how these are operationalized through certain key criterias in the multi-actor project. We found that the multi-actor project partially aligns with the strategies that the robust action framework anticipates. Our analysis further revealed that the robust action strategies framework could benefit from being extended to include an additional underlying supportive structure, which we label towards a system understanding, comprising two subcategories, robust meaningmaking and shared system understanding. Ultimately, we argue that by extending the current robust action strategies framework, the process of tackling grand challenges becomes more attainable throughout an ongoing iterative and dynamic process. Theoretical implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.