Twentieth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Sustainable development benefits from the regenerative acts of the stakeholders operating in it. In education, could be a gap between the desired sustainable acts of a (graduated) student and what is possible outside of university. In our region, we see the need to advance sustainable behaviour amongst many regional players. However, they are not always willing or able to formally learn about the why’s and how’s of sustainability. We argue that an innovation lab in which students work on projects for and with commissioners is an ideal place to foster informal learning. University lab constructions in which industry, education and governments interact are functional to advance student learning. Co-creation allows to inspire and educate stakeholders on regenerative behaviour. In our innovation lab, we teach and inspire students on regenerative economics and placemaking, in order to steer their ideas to share with stakeholders in design thinking processes. By means of a hybrid co-creative environment including online, offline, synchronous and asynchronous interactions, students contribute to regenerating our region directly and through the learning mechanisms of boundary crossing also indirectly as the interaction fosters informal learning with the innovation lab’s clients. The structure of this environment and orchestrated interactions seems of essence in how stakeholders interests can be changed because of informal learning as affected by their level of engagement with our students.