The  Designing Environments  book series addresses questions regarding necessary environmental transformation in the context of the fast-unfolding environmental crisis. This is done from a broad interdisciplinary perspective, examining the negative impact of human transformations of the environment and providing different inroads towards sustainable environmental transformation with net positive impact. Volume one of the  Designing Environments  book series brings together experts from different disciplines and often inter- and transdisciplinary contexts, who discuss specific approaches to overcoming the negative impact of the transformation of environments by humans. Across the 12 chapters of volume one, specific keywords recur that are indicative of shared insights and concerns. These include  Anthropocene ,  climate change ,  complexity , critical zone,  ecosystem services , and  sustainability . Furthermore, interdisciplinary approaches to  human-environment interactions ,  sustainability transitions , and  socio-ecological systems  take center stage and are discussed in relation to conceptual and methodological as well as societal and technological challenges and opportunities.