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Mapping a sustainable future: Community learning in dialogue at the science–society interface

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Abstract

In 2015, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) announced that the Science Year 2015 would focus on the “City of the Future”. It called for innovative projects from cities and communities in Germany dedicated to exploring future options and scenarios for sustainable development. Among the successful respondents was the city of Lüneburg, located in the north of Germany, which was awarded funding to establish a community learning project to envision a sustainable future (“City of the Future Lüneburg 2030+”). What made Lüneburg’s approach unique was that the city itself initiated the project and invited a broad range of stakeholders to participate in a community learning process for sustainable development. The authors of this article use the project as a blueprint for sustainable city development. Presenting a reflexive case study, they report on the process and outcomes of the project and investigate community learning processes amongst different stakeholders as an opportunity for transformative social learning. They discuss outputs and outcomes (intended as well as unintended) in relation to the specific starting points of the project to provide a context-sensitive yet rich narrative of the case and to overcome typical criticisms of case studies in the field.

Résumé

Imaginer un avenir pérenne : l’apprentissage communautaire concerté à l’interface entre science et société – Le ministère fédéral allemand de la formation et de la recherche annonçait en 2015 que l’Année de la science en cours serait dédiée à la « cité de demain » . Il appelait les villes et collectivités d’Allemagne à élaborer des projets innovants consacrés à l’étude d’options et de scénarios futurs servant le développement durable. Parmi les villes retenues figure Lunebourg située dans le nord du pays, qui a reçu un financement pour réaliser un projet d’apprentissage communautaire portant sur la vision d’un avenir pérenne (« Lunebourg Cité de demain 2030 +). La caractéristique originale dans la proposition de Lunebourg résidait dans le fait que la Ville a lancé le projet et invité une grande variété d’intervenants à participer à un mouvement d’apprentissage communautaire en vue du développement durable. Les auteurs de l’article utilisent ce projet comme modèle de développement urbain pérenne. À travers une étude de cas réflexive, ils en décrivent la démarche et les résultats, et explorent les processus d’apprentissage communautaire chez divers acteurs, qui conduisent à un apprentissage social transformateur. Ils analysent les réalisations et résultats (escomptés ou inattendus) par rapport aux conditions de départ spécifiques du projet, pour en fournir un récit à la fois contextuel et riche, et dépasser les critiques d’études de cas typiques dans ce domaine.

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Notes

  1. A reflexive case study refers to a systematic research approach that helps being “critically reflexive” about boundaries and limitations of the case as well as of lessons that can be learned from the case.

  2. A learning organisation is an organisation that facilitates the learning of its members through constant processes of sharing and developing the collective and individual knowledge in the organisation.

  3. Agenda 21, implemented in 1992, is an international non-binding United Nations action plan aimed at sustainable development; “21” refers to the 21st century. For more information, see https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/outcomedocuments/agenda21 [accessed 13 October 2017].

  4. Service learning refers to an experiential form of learning that engages students in active, relevant and collaborative learning and focuses equally on both the service being provided and the learning that is occurring (Barth et al. 2014).

  5. Lüneburg was a member of the Hanseatic League, a medieval trade confederation of mostly northern German towns which grew to a membership of over 100 towns in the later Middle Ages.

  6. The organisation’s name, T.U.N., is derived from Technik, Umwelt, Natur [Technology, Environment, Nature]. For more information (in German), see http://www.tun-lueneburg.de/ [accessed 24 October 2017].

  7. Completion of the Science Bears Responsibility module was required from all first-year university students.

  8. For more information (in German), see www.lueneburg2030.de [accessed 12 October 2017].

  9. Commons refers to cultural and natural resources available to all members of society that are managed for individual and collective benefit.

  10. The Sustainability Officer is an employee of the city’s administration. He acted as the chairperson for all community activities undertaken during the Lüneburg project, and was the link between the university and the city of Lüneburg. In this role, the Sustainability Officer had a profound understanding and overview of the different processes occurring in the community.

  11. A theoretical sampling approach involves selectively choosing interviewees based on theoretical considerations.

  12. All quotations in this article have been taken from the recorded and transcribed interviews; participants spoke in German; we translated their statements into English for the purposes of this article.

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  1. Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Universitätsallee 1, 21335, Lüneburg, Germany

    Matthias Barth, Daniel J. Lang, Philip Luthardt & Ulli Vilsmaier

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  1. Matthias Barth
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Correspondence to Matthias Barth.

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Barth, M., Lang, D.J., Luthardt, P. et al. Mapping a sustainable future: Community learning in dialogue at the science–society interface. Int Rev Educ 63, 811–828 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-017-9687-5

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