Pathways to a Better Future - Concepts and Projects for a Transformation to Sustainability Freie Universität Berlin

Overview

Key facts

• During the Pathways to a Better Future - Concepts and Projects for a Transformation to Sustainability course from Freie Universität Berlin, students will explore how societies can respond to these interconnected crises through systemic change, collective action and innovative practices to push transformations toward a sustainable development of our communities.
• Since the 1990s, a great many projects, policies and regulations that seek to advance sustainable development have been introduced and tried in many communities, organizations and countries. For instance, local and national Sustainable Development Strategies, circular economies, urban agriculture, ecovillages, co-housing, renewable energy projects. Nevertheless, the major trends and policies in most societies are still not sustainable and remain destructive in nature, despite symbolic actions and many declarations.
• Students will analyze the specific power structures, behavioral and cultural barriers that impede transformative change, such as unlimited economic growth, over-consumption, environmental pollution, CO2-emissions, exploitation of people and resources, accelerated cultural changes and overwhelmed people. These aspects will be analyzed by strengthening our understanding of the systemic characters and the complex dynamics in today’s societies, including the individual, organizational, community, regional, national and international levels and their relations and interactions.
• We will investigate which social actors – individuals, groups, organisations – contribute to a transformation towards a better and sustainable way of life. We will learn to understand how this happens, which inertias and obstacles stand in the way and how these could be overcome.