Dr Oliver Bates from Lancaster University – alongside Minna Laurell Thorslund, Elina Eriksson, Daniel Pargman, Aksel Biørn-Hansen, Fatemeh Bakhshoudeh, and Arjun Rajendran Menon of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, tackle a new approach to sustainability, exploring ways in which human-computer interaction (HCI) can help us to break free from the hopelessness brought about by the interrelated crisis of our time.

The team’s paper, “Meta-crisis computing and you: Finding agency through the Two Loops model of change” considers how the Two Loops model of change (first described by Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze of the Berkana Institute) can be used to reevaluate our relationship with our world, and its current, highly volatile state.

The Two Loops model, in simple terms, suggests that a dying “dominant” System (such as our current, late-stage capitalistic society) can give way to a new “emergent” System, which may, at present, take an undetermined form. The team propose that the Two Loops model of futures and change – unlike other models – allows for a different relationship with endings as opposed to simply seeing a “collapse” of the current system, and the emotional distress associated with such an abrupt and unpredictable change. The authors of the paper argue that the Two Loops model allows us instead to look towards the emergent System, and see the loss of the System that we are currently occupying as a necessity for the birth of change.

Examining the Two Loops model from the perspective of computing and human-computer interaction professionals, the researchers suggest that the model allows for individuals within these fields to conceptualise new possibilities available within a future emergent System, innovate within the world of computing and build towards a better tomorrow, whilse simultaneously encouraging them to protect the elements of the current dominant System which are necessary for the safe emergence of the new System. This, Dr Bates and the team say, includes maintaining the functions and stability of systems underpinning much of current energy and financial infrastructures, storing digital assets for posterity such as webpages and climate change data to counteract the risks of losing important resources (such as climate-change denialism), and repurposing old infrastructure for new purposes. The researchers argue that by preserving information and knowledge about the dying, dominant System and suggesting ways to prepare for and improve the emergent System, HCI and computing can help pave the way for a more seamless transition between our current and future societies, providing us with hope for that future, as opposed to simply fear.

The team recently delivered their paper at the Aarhus 2025 conference, a decennial conference that explores the intersection of critical action, theory and practice in computing. This year’s conference - entitled Computing (X) Crisis – invited academics to explore the roles computing can play in both exacerbating and alleviating the social, economic, and climate crises we face today.

On the findings and future direction of the paper, Research Fellow at Lancaster University’s School of Computing and Communications Dr Bates said: “From the conversations during authorship, review and at the conference, we’re energised by how the paper can inspire the field of Human-Computer Interaction into taking action towards the mindset shifts needed in the face of climate change, ecological destruction, and intertwined crises. We believe the Two Loops model of change is powerful for identifying spaces for professional and personal agency in the metacrisis. We’re excited to see equivalent papers and discussions across computing, engineering, and all other professions.”

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3744169.3744178