Derk Loorbach started his professional career working as researcher for the International Centre for Integrative Studies (ICIS), Maastricht University. He currently works for the Dutch Research Institute For Transitions (DRIFT) at Erasmus University RotterdamWithin his research, he focuses on the development of transition management in theory and practice through his PhD-research and diverse consultancy projects in this area. Central theme in his PhD-research is the development of an integrated framework for structuring transition management activities and for organizing transition management processes. A central concept is the ‘transition-arena´.
Transition management can be described as a new governance-model based on complex systems´ thinking and is aimed at facilitating and directing processes of societal change in the direction of sustainability.
It is a form of participatory governance in which envisioning, scenario-development, shared agenda-setting and experimenting are basic elements. The framework is developed in an iterative way; through constant interaction between theory development and practical application in diverse social settings (see below).
