How do we learn and teach amid complex societal change? ESCuela: ESC & Education shares lessons from more than a decade of Systemic Co-Design (SCD) practice in classrooms, communities, and international collaborations. Blending reflection and practice shows how learning transforms when teachers become …

This volume offers practical insights into designing education that prepares students to navigate transitions in their professional futures by learning the basics of Systemic Co-Design. It also exemplifies how Systemic Co-Design can be an innovative approach to designing future-proof education with diverse …

Background and aim. To improve the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in schools, the Dutch government issued a program of requirements (PoR) “Fresh Schools”. This study aims to determine the effect of adopting class A (high IEQ) or B (moderate IEQ) of this PoR on students’ comfort and performance. Requirements …

Two years ago, in an economically underprivileged neighbourhood, designers and researchers collaborated with residents to investigate how local community challenges could be supported by initially hypothetical autonomous urban robots that later became known as “hoodbots” (Jaskiewicz & Smit, 2024). The …

To effectively prepare students for navigating complex societal and sustainability challenges, higher education institutions are increasingly experimenting with transdisciplinary learning environments (TLEs) in which students collaborate with external stakeholders across disciplinary and sectoral boundaries. …

Context: Rapid developments and adoption of machine learning-based software solutions have enabled novel ways to tackle our societal problems. The ongoing digital transformation has led to the incorporation of these software solutions in just about every application domain. Software architecture for …

Quite literally, our title marks the perspective we worked out for this article. What is the value of creativity if anyone can generate 1000 ideas at the touch of a button? And how do artists and designers that create at the forefront of digital art and design maintain and develop this value? How do …

In the face of increasingly complex societal challenges, the field of social design is being called upon to deepen its ability to create long-term, systemic impact. This project, conducted with five experienced social designers and one workshop in our ESConference in 2025, explored how systems thinking, …

Future Proof Labs (FPL) was a four-year research project funded by CLICKNL. It was fundamentally oriented toward co-design in contexts of societal transition. The project brought together academic researchers, practitioners, and a broad network of social design bureaus to collaboratively develop and …

How do citizens, designers, policymakers, and local entrepreneurs actually work together in ways that are inclusive, sustainable, and effective? Collaboration in urban innovation is often treated as a matter of method or structure, but what happens when timelines clash, trust falters, or understanding …