Our MOOC has reached its "equator" having launched its first 3 Learning Modules, a week for Practical Exercises and a Forum Week for online discussion.
In this second in-person meeting, students met again at the LOW3 solar house at our campus in order to get known even better our housing prototype, explore and discuss its concepts, materials and technologies, but especially to discuss the outcomes of the first Learning Modules and its Practical Exercises.
Reduction Scenarios for our Ecological and Carbon Footprint have been discussed, concepts of a shared economy and especifically the posiblity of new forms of housing, based on shared resources, functionalities and spaces, so-called co-housing concepts have been discussed and explored.
Also the aspect of our environmentaly and socially critical consumption of food and goods as well as the necessary change of our mobility patterns have been raised.
As interesting result of the exercises it showed that the participants as a group currently have an average need of more than 3 planets (3.1) in order to sustain their lifestyle.
Nevertheless with the introduction of "easy to do" changes in their daily habits and behaviours (second round simulation) there seems to be a possibility to reduce this need to an average of 1.9 planets.
In a third round, with a "profound effort regarding changes in lifestyle and consumption patterns", the group showed the potential to live almost wtihin the limits of our planet, resulting in an average need of 1.1 planets.
Similar exercises have been done and discussed regarding the need for space. It showed that currently the group has available an average of 42.9 m2 per
person at home, but with some ajustments they might be able to live
with 33.2 m2, and in an advanced reduction scenario it might be possible to
live with arround the half of what they have available today, namely
23.5m2.
In this second in-person meeting, students met again at the LOW3 solar house at our campus in order to get known even better our housing prototype, explore and discuss its concepts, materials and technologies, but especially to discuss the outcomes of the first Learning Modules and its Practical Exercises.
Reduction Scenarios for our Ecological and Carbon Footprint have been discussed, concepts of a shared economy and especifically the posiblity of new forms of housing, based on shared resources, functionalities and spaces, so-called co-housing concepts have been discussed and explored.
Also the aspect of our environmentaly and socially critical consumption of food and goods as well as the necessary change of our mobility patterns have been raised.
As interesting result of the exercises it showed that the participants as a group currently have an average need of more than 3 planets (3.1) in order to sustain their lifestyle.
Nevertheless with the introduction of "easy to do" changes in their daily habits and behaviours (second round simulation) there seems to be a possibility to reduce this need to an average of 1.9 planets.
In a third round, with a "profound effort regarding changes in lifestyle and consumption patterns", the group showed the potential to live almost wtihin the limits of our planet, resulting in an average need of 1.1 planets.
Similar exercises have been done and discussed regarding the need for space. It showed that currently the group has available an average of 42.9 m2 per
person at home, but with some ajustments they might be able to live
with 33.2 m2, and in an advanced reduction scenario it might be possible to
live with arround the half of what they have available today, namely
23.5m2.
Overall objective of the MOOC is the transformative
learning for a societal model and a personal lifestyle with less
environmental impact by introducing into basic concepts of
sustainability and disseminating the generated knowledge of the LOW3
prototype in the field of sustainable architecture and lifestyle.
The Living Lab concept of our course with its in-person meetings combines in a unique way collective knowledge generation about available concepts and technologies, value discussion among students and individual behavioural change of the participants.
