Theme and Programme
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Why does transformation need Third Places and how can they be designed?
Third places are open spaces that differ from the two other environments we live in: private home and workplace/school/university. Examples of third places include cafes, maker spaces, public libraries, bookstores, arts organisations like galleries, theaters and museums but also “virtual spaces” that offer accessible meeting opportunities on a “neutral ground”.
How could we activate “Third Places” as future venues for the co-production and sharing of knowledge? How could these places represent the diversity that exists in their surrounding community? Which methodologies, spaces, and tools could be integrated to activate “Third Places” as venues for transdisciplinary collaborations? What could educational institutions learn from these places? Do they need to be physical? Can we create digital or hybrid meeting spaces which provide similar opportunities to connect?
From the 8th until the 12th of May 2023, SciCultureD participants from different backgrounds and stakeholders from the city of Bochum will develop innovative ideas on how to develop “Third Places” as centres for more inclusive and participatory education.
The Programme - Example from Athen 2022
We are still working on the programme for the intensive course in Bochum, 2023.
In 2022, at the 5 day course in Athens, we worked in groups on a project to challenge your views of sustainable educational communities.
On top of that, we worked in transdisciplinary teams to discuss how sustainable communities in Greece could evolve and address the global challenges related to sustainability and the green transition.
We creatively explored different possibilities through a Design Thinking process. By applying dialogic Creative Pedagogies that place at the forefront ethics, embodiment, transdisciplinarity, communality and agency, we were guided to move from how things are, towards how things could be or ways in which we might encourage them to emerge (“what if?” thinking).
At the end of the week, we communicated our group’s ideas for sustainable educational communities using a creative medium.
