In an era characterized by unprecedented complex and multifaceted sustainability challenges, we need to move beyond traditional discipline-specific knowledge dissemination in higher education. It necessitates the integration of diverse perspectives and collaborative strategies that prepare students to navigate the ever-evolving complex societal realities of our time. Transdisciplinary education, which seeks to train students in collaborating with people representing multiple academic fields of expertise, cultures, and epistemological approaches, has the potential to help students make sense of these complexities, co-create plans which consider different worldviews, and take actions towards transformative change. However, implementing a fruitful transdisciplinary learning environment can be challenging. Theoretical frameworks can provide a compass for educators and students to co-create a transdisciplinary learning experience that fosters holistic understanding of complex issues, facilitates active stakeholder interaction, and inspires critical reflection on personal assumptions.

This presentation will introduce the "Designing Feasible Futures Framework (DF3)", which is developed by the Institute for the Future – KU Leuven in collaboration with coordinators, coaches, and participants of the Transdisciplinary Insights (TDI) Honours Programme. It is used as a guiding tool for student teams of TDI to address complex sustainability challenges. The DF3 incorporates triple loop learning. By following the DF3, students can acquire new knowledge (single loop), question underlying assumptions (double loop), and experience a shift in norms and values that frame thinking and actions (triple loop) (Flood & Romm, 2018). To bring about this shift, this iterative approach encourages students to understand current societal realities, envision desired futures, and come up with adaptive approaches to bridge the gap between current realities and futures.

The framework is structured around four main building blocks – 1. problem framing, 2. complexity, 3. stakeholder collaboration, and 4. futures – each designed to foster systems knowledge, target knowledge, and/or transformation knowledge (Kueffer et al., 2019). In TDI, these blocks are explored through workshops in the first semester, guiding students through a comprehensive learning journey. Starting with "problem framing", students identify and delineate the scope of their assigned complex challenge (systems knowledge), setting the stage for a deep dive into the interconnected layers of this challenge in the "complexity" block. Here, the focus changes to understanding the dynamics and relationships that define the problem, paving the way for the development of target knowledge. Once students move to the "stakeholder collaboration" block, engagement with societal actors becomes a priority, emphasizing the importance of diverse perspectives and the social dynamics at play in effecting change. Finally, the "futures" block pushes students to envision and articulate viable pathways to desired outcomes, highlighting the role of innovative thinking and strategic planning in transformative initiatives.

Through following the DF3 within the TDI program, students are equipped with tools and experiences necessary to address the complexities of real-world problems. This approach not only enriches their academic journey but also prepares them for active participation in a world that increasingly values collaborative, inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to pressing issues. By combining concepts and theories from triple loop learning, complexity science, and futures thinking, the DF3 provides a blueprint towards a more integrated and impactful transdisciplinary educational experience.

Facing the serious interwoven local and planetary urbanization problems in Latin America self-organized occupations have been used as a tool by social movements to address issues of inadequate access to housing and services and to pressure for sustainable and responsible public policies. Recently these social activities have built cooperation with academics and technical advisory from different study fields to critically approach and develop collective formats of labour, building and living together as well as to promote a debate on human-nature relationships and transdisciplinary research and teaching activities.

This paper reflects on our methodology and engagement in science and society cooperation and as a practice of transformative research and teaching for societal transformation. Based on experiences in a set of “collective experiments” (Latour 2012, 225) the COLLOC collaborative workshop series has been stablished as an experimental transdiciplinary research and teaching practice since 2018 with a self-organized occupation in Brazil. The transdisciplinary practices which we developed and adapted in the workshop series are based on three principles:

1_The COLLOC self-image: We carry out our transdisciplinary activities on site in the role of co-researchers in order to support and develop existing socio-technical projects. It is carried out with and in an existing network of actors and their different knowledge types that includes researchers and students from Universities in Germany and Brazil, international alumni (from different disciplines), residents of the Brazilian occupation, activists and socio-technical initiatives as well as non-human actors like the Atlantic rainforest, kitchen, food, waste, water, a state law on land use etc.

2_The COLLOC objective: With the perspective of the Anthropocene, insurgent urbanism and a counter-hegemonic approach, the COLLOC workshops strive for a collaborative and interactive knowledge integration. The aim is to create a mutual learning and teaching environment (common ground) for the development and reflection of short and long term systemic and sustainable solutions for housing, food systems, collective spaces and water systems.

3_The COLLOC umbrella methodology: In order to stimulate sustainable change in a social context, a transdisciplinary format - the Dual Design Strategy - has been developed and implemented. It involves two simultaneous, interconnected levels of co-production: the development of systemic scenarios by linking material flows and actors and the generation of hands-on micro interventions at a 1:1 scale. This strategy is oriented toward localized problem-solutions and reflection on their implications, combining conceptual approaches from the disciplines of planning and engineering with practices and experienced knowledge of non-scientific actors responding to everyday needs of the community.

Based on the principles we position and critically discuss the methodology of the COLLOC experiments as transdisciplinary research and teaching format in order to stimulate transformative learning for societal transformation. As a practice to co-create mutual learning environments we reflect how the different knowledge types from the different participant groups are merged to new integrated common ground knowledge, which is materialized and continuously experienceable, accessible and reflectable for all participants in different scales of space and time. Learning, planning, and acting together can lead to more socially and spatially just transformation.

The complex challenges of today's world, including climate change, social inequality, and rapid urbanization, necessitate innovative educational approaches that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries. This presentation explores a groundbreaking educational model implemented in the Interdisciplinary Project module for the 4th semester of the 2nd Undergraduate Degree in Design at IED, facilitated by Giulia Sonetti. It reflects on the integration of inter- and transdisciplinary (ITD) methods to cultivate future designers equipped to address these multifaceted challenges.

The Interdisciplinary Project module serves as a pioneering platform where students engage in design projects through an inter/transdisciplinary lens. This approach not only broadens their perspective but also enhances their capacity for creative problem-solving within complex socio-environmental contexts. The module's structure is informed by the principles of design thinking, emphasizing a process that is both a tool for creative thinking and a framework for organizing the design process.

A significant aspect of the module involves collaboration with external stakeholders, such as NGOs and industry partners, to work on real-world challenges. This collaboration is exemplified in the partnership with Schwalgien Yacht Design & Waterproof Consulting and Open Arms, aiming to introduce an NGO into the superyacht industry to foster awareness and long-term cooperation. Through this engagement, students learn to navigate the dynamics of client-supplier-collaborator relationships, thereby gaining insights into the practical aspects of design beyond the confines of the classroom.

The module's learning outcomes are directly aligned with the skills required for sustainability and design leadership, including market, societal, and technological analysis; strategic and innovative thinking; and the application of inter/transdisciplinary design projects. The methodology employed in the module—ranging from experiential exercises to creative prototyping and feedback incorporation—embodies the essence of ITD education by fostering a deep understanding of the interplay between design, society, and sustainability.

Drawing on insights from the ITD Alliance Workshop, this presentation will highlight the effectiveness of incorporating ITD methods in design education. The workshop underscored the critical need for academic structures that support the development of integration experts who can lead, monitor, and assess ITD projects. Through the lens of the Interdisciplinary Project module, we will explore practical interventions and strategies that facilitate the integration of ITD competencies in higher education, thereby preparing students to contribute meaningfully to sustainable development.

This case study exemplifies a transformative educational approach that not only equips students with the necessary skills to engage in ITD projects but also instills a sense of responsibility towards sustainability and social inclusion. By embedding ITD methods into the curriculum, the Interdisciplinary Project module at IED represents a forward-thinking model that bridges the gap between disciplinary silos, fostering a new generation of designers capable of addressing the complex challenges of our time with creativity, empathy, and a transdisciplinary mindset.

In conclusion, the presentation will propose recommendations for further integrating ITD methods into design education, inspired by the successes and lessons learned from the Interdisciplinary Project module. These insights are invaluable for educators, administrators, and policymakers aiming to enhance the relevance and impact of design education in addressing global sustainability challenges.

Courses in higher education institutions tend to focus on teaching students about solution spaces: theories and methods that have been accrued to address disciplinary problems and research questions. Research assignments are often integrated into such courses, in which students are challenged to apply the solution space to compatible problem spaces. This educational set-up has proven immensely valuable in passing on the knowledge and tools of a field, and has rightly earned its commonplace presence. However, we also observe that many authentic problems, especially those connected to societal issues like healthy and sustainable urban living, are rarely constrained within disciplinary solution spaces - instead, multidisciplinary research teams are needed to address them. This underscores a need for students to be prepared to effectively participate and learn in such teams, which is increasingly being picked up by universities and policymakers

Living Pasts Exploring Futures is an interdisciplinary co-design course at Utrecht University (UU), the Netherlands, that challenges students from different programmes and faculties to work beyond their own expertise and place acquired knowledge into social context. By combining historical, ecological and socio-cultural data, students develop and design innovative pilot applications in collaboration with societal stakeholders. This goal is purposefully broad, to allow any student enrolled in the course to find an angle of interest within these design boundaries. In the process of community-engaged learning, students learn how to cooperate across disciplinary borders, take charge of their own learning process and experimentally assess the added value of new media and ICT. The course takes place over ten weeks.