PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Allan W. Shearer
TI  - Abduction to Argument: A Framework of Design Thinking
AID  - 10.3368/lj.34.2.127
DP  - 2015 Feb 01
TA  - Landscape Journal
PG  - 127--138
VI  - 34
IP  - 2
4099  - http://lj.uwpress.org/content/34/2/127.short
4100  - http://lj.uwpress.org/content/34/2/127.full
AB  - This paper presents a constructivist framework for design thinking based on the recognition that there are different kinds of generative propositions. Five different “What if … ?” questions are identified. It is offered that subsequent design development occurs in two ways. First, intensive development seeks an increasingly precise understanding of a proposed change by refining the generative proposition with respect to the initial “What if … ?” question. Second, extensive development seeks an increasingly comprehensive understanding of a proposed change by applying, adapting, and adjusting the generative proposition with respect to the other “What if … ?” questions. It is suggested that when both kinds of design development are performed successfully, the generative proposition of change becomes a reasoned argument for change.