Transformation through Communication

General information

In the project, renowned institutions with an established educational mandate and a wide reach were encouraged to incorporate creative forms of “transformation competence” into their programs and to integrate political education more strongly into scientific communication on climate change issues. The collaboration with the Netzwerk Naturwissen/Museum für Naturkunde, Haus Bastian, and the Futurium centered on the conception of various workshop formats.

Objectives

The objective was to develop multidirectional communication strategies that engage a variety of public spheres in the co-creation of knowledge about the urban governance of long-term sectoral and cross-sectoral transformation projects. The workshop formats were intended to lead to inclusive epistemic participation and were set at the crossroads of political, cultural, and scientific education.  Using the institutions’ resources (e.g. artworks), strategies for public engagement were to be developed  to improve the climate and transformation competences of their audiences.

Method

There was close collaboration with the three institutions to develop a co-design methodology that suited both their audiences and resources. The collaboration drew on existing public education infrastructure and resources and developed new approaches to address the transformative challenges facing our society today.

To do so, institution-specific aspects and target groups were taken into account:

1. Haus Bastian: The focus was on the development of a method that makes use of the extensive collections of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State museums) and incorporates Haus Bastian’s expertise in creative engagement methods. This was intended to broach the subject of environmental protection issues and the implementation of nature-based solutions in Berlin with school children and their teachers.
2. Futurium: The Futurium’s annual theme was democracy. A workshop format was therefore developed to engage participants on matters of justice as they relate to the transition to climate-neutral mobility in Berlin.
3. Netzwerk Naturwissen/Naturkundemuseum: Investigations were carried out into how climate protection governance can be integrated into the museum’s program and thus communicated to the public.

Outreach

Pilot workshops were carried out in the different institutions in November 2023. A methodology book for co-design in public institutions is being prepared and is due to be published in spring 2024.

Members of the project team are Prof. Timothée Ingen-Housz, Paola Perrin de Brichambaut, and Mareile Klose.