Engaging with multi-system interactions in sustainability transitions: A comment on the transitions research agenda

As sustainability challenges and the transformative changes they necessitate stretch well beyond the boundaries of individual socio-technical systems, there is a pressing need to generate more sustained interest in the dynamics occurring across rather than within systems. In response, this viewpoint takes stock of existing work on multi-system dynamics and sketches the contours of a multi-system perspective, which conceptualizes the interactions among systems as diverse, layered, and evolving. A multi-system perspective draws attention to: the present functional and structural couplings that link systems of interest; emerging sites of interaction that could bring systems further into contact; along with the patterns marking system interactions and their implications for sustainability transitions. Attending more carefully to multi-system dynamics complements several promising directions of inquiry identified by the agenda for sustainability transitions research, including recent efforts to broaden the scope of analysis, capture the pervasiveness of change, and consider opportunities for acceleration.