The distributed control promised by networks can shrivel up with the wrong leadership. In the same way, it can be conceived that the centralization of authority in hierarchies can be distributed. The contention here is that hierarchies are not the problem. It's not hierarchies, it's us.

The problem is not only that others live with risk but what they do while they live with it as well (Coppola, 2015). What is needed, then, is a fundamental change in the way people understand and act in the world around them that can comprehensively address how we live with risk.

In part 1 design was presented a process of bringing something new into the world for the purpose of changing “existing situations into preferred ones." Here in part 2, this understanding will be expanded to include a concern for what the designer designs; the outcome of a design process.

The first post in this series brought to the fore behavioral change in the field of emergency management and framed its creation as an act of design. Attention is now turned toward exploring what design is and uncovering its presence in emergency management.

How can emergency management professionals create lasting behavioral change within their own organizations and the communities they serve? The following post introduces a series dedicated to establishing foundations for designing risk-driven change in everyday life.