Biomimicry : transformative learning for sustainable solutions

Biomimicry is an emerging discipline that aims at finding more sustainable solutions to human challenges through nature’s emulation. Biomimicry is multi/interdisciplinary as it calls for the collaboration among diverse disciplines. Jargons, different perspectives and mindsets characterizing the various disciplines obstruct the knowledge sharing and the creation of new cultural forms during the bio-inspired design process. A methodology for the bio-inspired design, grounded on the theory underlying the boundary-crossing processes is proposed. The methodology will be tested in multidisciplinary class formed by universities of applied sciences students. The preliminary results will be discussed and eventual refinements to the proposed methodology will be illustrated.
Published in: Higher Education Conference 2019, 28-29 October 2019, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam, Netherlands