University Campus as a Co-design Hub for Sustainable Transformation:

Learning by Doing

The Summer School Campus as a Co-Creation Hub for Sustainable Transformation explores how university campuses can serve as creative and experimental environments for learning, testing, and advancing sustainability transitions. It understands sustainable transformation not only in environmental terms, but as an integrated process that connects spatial, ecological, social, cultural, and governance dimensions. By positioning the campus as a living laboratory, the programme investigates how co-creation processes can foster climate resilience, resource responsibility, social inclusion, and collective stewardship, enabling campuses to act as catalysts for broader societal change. While sustainability is increasingly recognised as a guiding principle in higher education, its theoretical foundations and practical applications are not yet fully embedded in institutional cultures and spatial development processes. Campuses, therefore, offer valuable opportunities to test and integrate innovative approaches to climate neutrality, social inclusion, and participatory governance, functioning as microcosms of broader urban and societal transformations. Bringing together students, researchers, and practitioners from fields such as design, environmental science, social innovation, social science, management, and engineering, the programme positions the campus not only as a site of education but as a participatory hub for shaping sustainable futures. Participants engage with the campus as both an object of study and a laboratory for action, examining how co-creation can link physical transformation with social and cultural change including, participation, inclusion, and community-building. The Summer School has two main foci, understanding and practicing co-creation for sustainability transformation. Both aim to deepen participants’ insight into the opportunities and challenges of transforming campuses through collaborative, interdisciplinary, and community-engaged approaches. By linking conceptual reflection with hands-on experimentation, the programme contributes participants’ learning path to become visionary sustainability practitioners equipped to lead transformative change in real-world contexts. The programme includes keynote lectures and hands-on workshops, and concludes with a panel discussion addressing key questions: What governance and collaborative strategies enable inclusion, innovation, and knowledge integration across domains to advance sustainable transformation, particularly in the context of net-zero and climate-neutral transitions? How can universities act as creative environments for sustainability? How can learning environments become catalysts for collective sustainable transformation? Building on CCLab’s previous events and collaborations on sustainable campus transformation, the Summer School continues a successful format developed in partnership with the RWTH Aachen International Office and IDEA League universities. These include Climate Change and University Campuses (2021), When Science Meets Art for Climate Action at University Campuses (2022), and the The Sustainable Campus Conference (2022). The upcoming edition builds on this experience, facilitating dialogue between research, education, and practice while strengthening the network of IDEA League universities committed to sustainability and innovation. Outcomes and reflections from the Summer School will be shared through a dedicated webpage, digital storytelling published on the CCLab website, and a book publication, ensuring open access to methods, insights, and teaching materials.

Day 1: Framing Sustainable Transformation & Co-Creation

Day 2: Workshops 1/ Co-Creation Methodologies & Governance

Day 3: Workshop 2/Tools for Net-Zero Transformation

Day 4: Workshop 3/From Experimentation to Implementation

Day 5: Reflection, Synthesis & Future Collaboration / Drinks

Understand co-creation processes for sustainability Apply participatory design methods in campus settings

Develop interdisciplinary collaboration skills

Link spatial, social, and institutional change Gain practical experience in sustainability transitions

Become capable of leading real-world transformation projects