Imagining and Designing Otherwise: Ecological Thinking as Spatial Design Pedagogy
Madrid: A Focus on Pedagogy - Contemporary Teaching in a Time of Change, Madrid, İspanya, 24 - 26 Haziran 2026, (Yayınlanmadı)
- Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Yayınlanmadı
- Basıldığı Şehir: Madrid
- Basıldığı Ülke: İspanya
- TED Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Spatial design
education today unfolds amid urgent local and global challenges. However, if
socio-political and ecological conditions are already compromised beyond
repair, grounding design pedagogy in the context of “wicked problems” leaves
little room for emancipatory thinking beyond partial or restorative solutions.
To foster student agency and imagination, especially at the foundational level,
there is a need for educational space that invite experimentation.
At that
juncture, this paper explores how ecological thinking offers possibilities for
re-imagination in introductory spatial design education drawing on the case of
Basic Design in Planning studio at TED University. Approaching the studio as an
ecosystem, it investigates the evolving interplay of learners, tools, spatial
contexts, and conceptual strategies. Ecology, appropriated not only in
environmental terms but as a relational and systemic lens, informs both the substantive
and procedural aspects of the studio.
The paper brings
forth the core strategies to guide this approach: alternativeness, which
encourages speculative and counterfactual thinking; circularity, which
involves temporal layering and systemic cycles; and adaptability, which
fosters responsiveness to uncertainty and complexity. Through these strategies,
the capacity of young designers to reimagine urban scenarios through spatial
narratives decoupled from deterministic realities is discussed. Consequently,
the paper introduces a model framework encompassing form-based, activity-based
and mobility-based typologies based on studio outcomes over the years.
This way, how ecological thinking supports both spatial innovation and critical
awareness in learners is put forward.
By cultivating
imagination through an experimental and ecology-informed pedagogy, this
approach contributes to broader conversations on empowering design students to
engage meaningfully, operate ethically, and respond skilfully within an
uncertain world.