Abstract

This article presents and illustrates an analytical framework designed to open-up the black-box of what and how people learn while trying to tackle sustainability problems and to investigate the potential of learning processes and outcomes to enable transitions. It consists of an analytical method: practical epistemology analysis, and two analytical models: transactional learning theory and the multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions. The framework is empirically illustrated with an analysis of what/how people learn through participating in workshops to develop scenarios for creating a more sustainable urban food system. The article presents three different learning situations, reveals how diverse learning processes have varied potential to enable sustainability transitions and discusses how such studies can provide guidance for improving learning in the context sustainability transitions.