Building bridges

This chapter explores how art-based and design-oriented pedagogies can inspire transformative thinking and practices in Higher Education for Sustainability. Drawing from the project You Have a Part to Play, the authors present an interdisciplinary initiative where lecturers and students of 38 bachelor&s;s programmes of all faculties of Radboud University (Netherlands) collaboratively engage in reimagining and redesigning the future of academic education. At the heart of this approach is Critical Utopian Action Research (CUAR), a methodology that encourages participants to temporarily set aside practical limitations and collectively imagine alternative futures. The project culminates in a creative workshop where participants build 2D and 3D models of utopian university campuses. The exercise underscores the importance of community building, collaboration, and rethinking traditional structures in higher education, offering valuable insights into how higher education institutions can address urgent societal and ecological challenges, fostering hope and agency in times of systemic crisis.