The resilience compass : a new method for navigating community-scale transition pathways

Abstract

To address the implementation gap in community-scale Transition Design (TD), this paper introduces the Resilience Compass, a novel card-based facilitation method integrating Social-Ecological Systems (SES) resilience principles with TD backcasting. Iteratively developed through urban garden workshops in Shanghai and Auckland in 2025/26, the tool translates complex sustainability principles into accessible, localized prompts. It scaffolds non-expert participants through both imaginative visioning and subsequent action-planning. The primary contribution is methodological: providing a tangible, practice-ready artefact that empowers grassroots practitioners to operationalize systemic transitions. Ultimately, this research advances TD by demonstrating how theoretical ecological frameworks can be synthesised into generative, community-led design interventions.