Abstract
Sub-Saharan Africa is at the frontline of climate change, with impacts particuarly acute in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs). This study examines how value-led design can mediate between traditional cosmologies and scientific climate knowledge to strengthen adaptation. Focusing on pastoralist communities in Kenya’s Maasai Mara region, it applies the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) as a participatory reflection tool. Findings show how value-led design can advance equity by embedding community voices and centring values in decision-making, contributing to broader debates on design’s role in fostering systemic transitions amid climate uncertainty, safeguarding against maladaptation. It presents the MLP as a tool for value-led design, connecting abstract climate data and local knowledge, enabling communities to reinterpret climate projections through cultural worldviews and identifying locally grounded adaptation strategies. By following this method researchers and practitioners can support communities to imagine, negotiate, and sustain equitable, regenerative futures that are scientifically informed and grounded in cultural values.
Keywords
Adaptation, Multi-level perspective, Value-led design, Transition Design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2248
Citation
Ng, N., and Lutta, A. (2026) Design as a mediator: Bridging traditional cosmologies and scientific knowledge for climate change adaptation through value-led design, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2248
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Design as a mediator: Bridging traditional cosmologies and scientific knowledge for climate change adaptation through value-led design
Sub-Saharan Africa is at the frontline of climate change, with impacts particuarly acute in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs). This study examines how value-led design can mediate between traditional cosmologies and scientific climate knowledge to strengthen adaptation. Focusing on pastoralist communities in Kenya’s Maasai Mara region, it applies the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) as a participatory reflection tool. Findings show how value-led design can advance equity by embedding community voices and centring values in decision-making, contributing to broader debates on design’s role in fostering systemic transitions amid climate uncertainty, safeguarding against maladaptation. It presents the MLP as a tool for value-led design, connecting abstract climate data and local knowledge, enabling communities to reinterpret climate projections through cultural worldviews and identifying locally grounded adaptation strategies. By following this method researchers and practitioners can support communities to imagine, negotiate, and sustain equitable, regenerative futures that are scientifically informed and grounded in cultural values.