A Call to Action: the SDGs Local Learning Studio

This event presents the the action-oriented SDGs Local Learning Studio and invites critical engagement with an innovative educational model that encourages a deep and interdisciplinary dive into the SDGs, especially Goals 11 and 13. The event will provide a rationale for the project, and introduce principles informing the action-oriented SDGs Local Learning Studio. Through presentations of student work, it will demonstrate the principles in action.

The SDGs Local Learning Studio (LLS) is a global project to accelerate and localize the SDGs in design and planning education with the aim of dramatically increasing SDGs literacy and capacity in students through 2030. In development prior to, and since the Union of International Architects 2023 World Congress that sought to ‘leave no-one behind’ and encouraged the take-up of the SDGs by the global design community, this 2025-2030 project focuses on localizing Next Gen learning about the SDGs in the global north and south. In line with the bi-annual UIA-UN Habitat 2030 Award that runs through 2030, the SDGs Local Learning Studio intends to bring Next Gen SDGs design thinking and leadership to World Urban Forums through 2030.

Building on the founding partners’ experience of education, practice, and the SDGs, in part the 2023 founding document reads:
“We are entering an era of climate and ecological breakdown coupled with accelerated urbanization and escalating social division and inequality that some are calling polycrisis. Cities - how they will be built, transformed, and reimagined - are at the center of the struggle over the future of the planet and human society in the Anthropocene. The defining questions for architects, designers and educators worldwide must be: ‘What are the measures by which we can contribute to the urgently needed change in how we think, design, and build… to reduce emissions, increase resilience and support just and thriving societies? How can we harness interdisciplinary knowledge and engage in co-production to meet these challenges and scale up global learning?

The built environment disciplines are in a unique position to achieve a positive impact through all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs Local Learning Studio will engage educators and students – the future decision-makers in the design professions - in the breadth, depth, and usefulness of the SDGs in design practice and research through studio projects, global networks, teaching resources, event programs, and publications”.

In relation to ‘how’ we are conducting the project, in part the founding document reads:
“Universities worldwide will be invited to offer local studio projects for submission to the SDGs Local Learning Studio…. The SDGs Local Learning Studio website will profile projects from participating Universities and provide continually updated resources for educators and students on the sustainability agenda in design and planning. Knowledge sharing and network building in the global north and south will be facilitated through online communication. With an associated program of online-symposia and publications … the impact of localizing the SDGs through specific projects will be shared and scaled up over time”.