Designing with uncertainty: Rights of nature as Public Design interventions in freshwater governance

Journal article, 2026

Freshwater governance is a wicked problem, characterised by uncertainty, contested values, and complex socio-ecological interdependencies. This article analyses rights of nature frameworks in freshwater ecosystems through a Public Design perspective, arguing that they operate as legally transformative design interventions. Drawing on theories of wicked problems and multi-loop learning, it conceptualises rights of nature as emerging experimental institutional designs that redistribute agency across human and nonhuman actors reshaping how uncertainty and ambiguity are governed within freshwater governance. Through comparative analysis of cases from Aotearoa New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Nigeria, and Peru, the article shows how rights of nature initiatives reconfigure problem definitions, decision-making practices, and epistemic authority in freshwater governance. Rather than resolving complexity, these frameworks aim to institutionalise deliberation and learning under uncertainty. By situating rights of nature within Public Design theory, the article extends design scholarship into legal innovation and foregrounds law as a material for governing socio-ecological complexity.