Source: flickr/go_greener_oz (https://www.flickr.com/photos/go_greener_oz/3047060508/)
As designers, we are are interested in researching and creating environments with others that enable the more productive engagement of situations or problems that are so complex they require multiple, diverse perspectives for any kind of resolution (typically for which there is very little ‘data’ for / on which decisions can be made).
(e.g., initial work on a multifaceted research effort on equitable food systems brought our attention to the void of techniques, toolsets, and archives).
Even with a bevy of existing tools and techniques available, these are not typically taken advantage of in a strategic way to foster the kind of transdisciplinary work required (we find this is especially true at a university)
(e.g., great diversity of expertise in a region and its communities; a legacy of projects, policies, efforts, both realized and halted, that have never been recorded or adequately represented).