Conference Program

In recent years, design education has increasingly been confronted with systemic challenges such as climate change, social inequalities, and the transition toward sustainable development models. In this context, higher education institutions are called upon to move beyond predominantly theoretical teaching models and to develop competencies capable of addressing complex and situated problems (Don Norman, 2023). In response to these transformations, pedagogical approaches based on experiential and collaborative learning have gained increasing attention, among which Challenge-Based Learning (CBL). This approach organizes educational pathways around real-world challenges addressed through interdisciplinary processes and in collaboration with external stakeholders. Such pedagogies enable students to apply academic knowledge in real contexts, fostering the development of critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and a greater sense of responsibility toward contemporary socio-environmental challenges (Höffken & Lazendic-Galloway, 2024).

This contribution examines the Roma Design Experience (RDE), developed at ISIA Roma Design since 2018 and now in its eighth edition, as a consolidated model of intensive and collaborative learning based on real-world challenges. The format temporarily reconfigures the traditional learning environment into a five-day laboratory where the challenges addressed focus on crucial issues such as climate change, heritage preservation, accessibility, and sustainability. This space is characterized by a horizontal, peer-to-peer structure in which heterogeneous groups composed of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty members, PhD candidates, tutors, and external stakeholders, including public institutions, third-sector organizations, and local communities, collaborate in defining and addressing real-world challenges.

The paper explores how challenge-based design workshops can function as devices of democratic pedagogy capable of fostering collaboration, critical reflexivity, and forms of student agency. Studies on event-based design education highlight how intensive and collaborative formats can activate situated and interdisciplinary learning processes in design education (Massari et al., 2024). From this perspective, the challenge is not conceived as a predefined brief but as a problematic situation to be collectively explored through practice-based methodologies. The contribution therefore aims to map the development of critical, relational, and socially oriented competencies, while also observing enabling conditions of collaborative learning environments, including inclusivity, quality of facilitation, and psychological safety within the group. Building on observation tools developed within the Rome Design Experience, the research analyzes indicators related to the development of critical thinking, collaborative dynamics, and awareness of the social impact of design projects (Massari et al., 2024; 2025). In order to capture more intangible dimensions of the educational experience, the study introduces the Multimodal Reflective Device (MRD), which integrates micro-narratives and visual languages to support non-linear forms of reflection (Gaver, 2012).

The analysis adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative data to observe the development of collaborative and civic competencies and to evaluate enabling conditions within the learning environment. Preliminary findings suggest that the RDE model can act as a catalyst for transformative agency, encouraging students to move from executors of design briefs to active mediators of social change. Finally, the contribution discusses the transferability of the model by comparing the Roman experience with international adaptations such as D.I.S.ba and the São Paulo Design Experience 2026.