Active Learning, Living Laboratories, Student Empowerment, and Urban Sustainability

In schools and universities, we instructors carry the responsibility of informing and inspiring students. Traditional and more theoretical educational programs (here referred to as passive learning) may be tied to projects and activities (active learning), in which students gain hands-on practical experience with planning, development, implementation, maintenance, and presentation of different solution-focused activities. Complementary to passive learning, the needs for active learning activities and living laboratories have become more pertinent as global trends, such as climate change, weigh heavily on the shoulders of young people. Unless properly guided and given tangible sources of inspiration, the sense of being overwhelmed and incapable of effectively contributing to a more sustainable future may cast a dark shadow over students, their ability to engage in active learning, and their long-term career aspirations. Schools and universities are being evaluated for their “greenness”. Accordingly, operational improvements (carbon, water, waste, and nutrient footprints) to meet sustainability targets are being implemented. Structural sustainability improvements represent unique opportunities for students and instructors to engage in active learning. As a broader message to school and university administrators, it is argued that efforts to plan and implement sustainability initiatives should also involve transformations of educational curricula. It is argued that educational institutions could and should be more than sums of buildings and infra-structure and represent living laboratories. Descriptions of topics taught, learning outcomes, and links to examples of student assignments of a specific course, Urban Food and Society, are included and discussed in the broader contexts of urban food sustainability and active learning. The main purpose of this article is to promote the notion that active learning activities and the need for improved sustainability of schools and universities can go hand in hand and provide compelling educational opportunities.