The United Nations 2030 Agenda with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 sub-goals forms the framework for realizing a future-proof and sustainable society. As goals that have been set by the global community for all countries, it will be key to make them usable and tangible on national, regional and local level. At the same time, it becomes more and more apparent that research, which is disconnected from the “real world” will not suffice to contribute to solving the sustainability challenges of today and tomorrow - which again emphasizes the role of understanding and acting on a local scale, as well as transdisciplinary and transformative research approaches. 

This course explores how we can use the SDGs as a tool for analyzing developments in our own city: Where does the relevance of certain SDGs become particularly tangible? Where can the SDGs be used to observe developments towards sustainability, where can grievances be revealed? Where and in what way can each and every individual take action to implement the SDGs?

These insights will be the basis for designing starting points for concrete real-world experiments to explore and test out solution pathways for specific challenges in the context of the SDGs. It is planned that the experiment designs will feed into the concrete real-world laboratories currently run by KIT researchers and researchers at other EUCOR institutions.

The course is embedded into the Real-world lab-Festival taking place from July 2nd to 6th, 2024 at and around TRIANGEL space (Kronenplatz). The course insights and real-world experiments will be officially presented at the end of this week on Saturday.

Course content

1. Introduction to the SDGs as a framework for sustainable development.

2. Application of the SDGs to the city of Karlsruhe and maybe other EUCOR cities: With the help of the SDGs, the implementation status of the various dimensions of sustainability in Karlsruhe is analyzed, lighthouse projects are identified, actor constellations are revealed, untapped potential and shortcomings as well as opportunities for individual action are made visible. 

3. Development of (starting points for) real-world experiment designs to practically explore specific solution pathways in the context of the SDGs.

Learning objectives

1. Introduction to the SDGs approach and critical analysis of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

2. Reflection on the significance of this approach the students’ own (local) reality.

3. Linking reflection on approaches to promoting sustainable development with concrete options for real-world experimentation on the ground.

4. Creating an awareness of the cross-border consequences of local decisions.

Deliverables (3 ECTS)

· Presentation of group work results on SDGs in Karlsruhe and design of a real-world experiment at closing event of the real-world lab week

Deliverables (5 ECTS)

· Presentation of group work results on SDGs in Karlsruhe and design of a real-world experiment at closing event of the real-world lab week (group work)

· written coursework / report (10 – 12 pages per person) presenting the research process and results on the SDGs exploration and analysis as well as the real-world experiment design and guidebook for potential experimenters, critical reflection of the results (individual or group work)

Kick-Off Treffen am 12. Juni, 16 - 17:30 Uhr online

Ort: Triangel Studio (Kronenplatz)