Hosted at TU Wien Research Unit Sociology and organised in collaboration with Alterperimentale, opens an external URL in a new window, this two-day workshop brought together researchers, practitioners, and boundary organizations to explore how transdisciplinary and co-creative approaches can contribute to social-ecological transformation in rural and regional contexts. Across four thematic blocks and multiple case-based contributions, almost 30 participants discussed how to design, test, and transfer knowledge in ways that matter locally while building shared concepts, methods, and partnerships across sectors.

The workshop aimed to facilitate the exchange of experiences from living labs, practice–research centres, and other forms of place-based collaboration. A particular focus was placed on reflecting boundary work, including the roles, responsibilities, and tensions that arise in processes of co-creation and knowledge transfer between academia and practice. In addition, participants compared a range of tools and formats used to support participatory design, land-use planning, the digital transition, and care-related initiatives, aiming to identify transferable approaches and shared lessons across different geographical and disciplinary contexts. It became apparent that, particularly in transdisciplinary projects, interdisciplinary challenges between different disciplines (for example, regional planning and social work) often come to the fore.

Program highlights

Day 1

• Alterperimentale – An interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary alliance:  Interdisciplinarity through transdisciplinarity? Insights from the Alterperimentale initiative (BTU Cottbus) • The Cottbus Practice-Research Center as a co-creative instrument for rural change (BTU Cottbus)
• Boundering Academics: Boundary work and the ARL as a boundary organization (ARL/Uni Hannover) • Co-creation in rural transformation in Brandenburg (FH Potsdam) • Knowledge transfer from disaster response to long-term partnerships (HS Koblenz) • Teaching-based living labs for public–civic collaboration (BTU Cottbus)
• Informal exchange continued over a joint dinner at a traditional Viennese wine tavern

Day 2

• Shaping Spaces: Co-creating urban furniture in a peripheral smart city (BTU Cottbus) • Multi-level cooperation and learning in transforming a former workers’ settlement in Lower Austria (Caritas Wien, TU Wien) • Transdisciplinary transfer in rural land-use planning beyond climate targets (HS Darmstadt)
• Hacking, Walking and Designing: Soil Walks and a Land Use Dashboard as transferable participation tools (TU Wien, Comenius Uni Bratislava) • Social Design as a transdisciplinary transfer practice (Verein Leischn)
• Aging and Caring: Community researchers for inclusive digital transition in rural Estonia (University of Tartu, Tallinn Technical University) • Participatory methods for aging in rural and urban neighborhoods (Hochschule München) • Co-creation for caring technologies in a rural region (HS Kempten)
• Reflecting Innovation: Situated geographies of innovation via transdisciplinary interventions (HU Berlin) • Co-creation in social innovation processes in Eastern Germany (BTU Cottbus)

We thank all contributors for their thoughtful inputs and look forward to continuing this collaboration toward a joint publication. Our special thanks go to co-organizers Prof. Dr. Alexandra Retkowski and Prof. Dr. Ludger Gailing from Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus-Senftenberg, opens an external URL in a new window.