The LEARN[IN] Symposium took place from 07-09 May, 2019 at SRH University Heidelberg. The interdisciplinary approach from the perspective of architecture, arts, pedagogy and sociology gave an insight into the relevance of the role of learning and learning spaces today. The goal was to offer an open platform for discussion and exchange about the challenges of the paradigm shift in pedagogy and the influences, opportunities and potentials that result from this in architecture and urban planning.
To this end, a call for presentations and posters was launched in January 2019. This focused on five main theme clusters:
- space(s) for the new pedagogy and the challenges of the 21st century;
- the environment as the third teacher;
- from learning spaces to living spaces;
- the school as a democratic space and its relation to the city;
- schools and universities as welcoming spaces for refugees and migrants.
The perspective on the focus areas was intentionally broad and interdisciplinary, covering the fields of architecture, urban design, landscape architecture, pedagogy, politics, economy and culture. In this way, students, researchers and practitioners presented not just different projects, but especially different approaches towards the interpretation of learning and learning spaces, addressing the variety of topics from the perception of everyday and ordinary learning to the role architecture plays as an educator and the role of education in society.
The questions included how school and education have developed in the past two hundred years, and what the social causes and consequences of this were; how we can design innovative learning spaces; what a school has to fulfill to be not just a learning and living space, but at the same time an agent of social sustainability.