Collaborative urban planning: teaching for wicked problems

Mapped principles 

The project is mapped to the following framework principles: 

P2. Ability to handle wicked problems for a sustainable societal development

P1. Essential knowledge of the subject  

P3. Active student-centred learning 

P5. Available experimental environments  

P9. A developing educational culture  

P10. Continuous competence development in the teaching role  

P13. Integrated lifelong learning  

Definitions of the principles

Contact 

Meike Schalk professor

meike@kth.se , 087907966

Profile

Project number 

This project is implemented at the School of Architecture and the Built Environment (ABE) within the Future Education programme (project no. 2604-ABE) 

Project context 

Urban development is a complex field of knowledge. Questions and problems concern different interests and needs among both human and non-human actors, often in conflict with one another. 

To meet the major challenges of our time, renewed pedagogy and teaching formats are needed. Through collaborative design methods, together with civil society and public partner organisations, interdisciplinary interfaces can be created for shared knowledge production, and this knowledge can be shared with the wider public. 

Purpose (outcome) 

The purpose of the project is to: 

• strengthen and significantly develop the interdisciplinary competence of urban development education at the interface with subjects at ABE and KTH 
• strengthen students’ ability to handle wicked urban development problems characterised by conflicting objectives, uncertainty, and multiple actors. 

The aim is to strengthen the subject of urban development through deeper subject knowledge and developed systems understanding. 

Project results (output) 

The project will deliver the following concrete results: 

• A series of four workshops with students (autumn 2026) on design methodology, preparing a symposium at KTH and participation in the Architecture Triennial at Färgfabriken in Stockholm (April to May 2027). 
• A handbook report for students, teachers, and collaboration partners (renewed pedagogy with teaching formats), where lessons from the workshops and symposium will feed into the ongoing revision of the Architecture programme syllabus. 
• A co-authored scientific article. 

Time plan 

Start date: 2026-05-01
End date: 2027-10-31

Project documentation 

If you have a KTH ID, you can read the documents when logged in:

• Poster: The project’s first poster (in Swedish) will be available at the ”Storträffen” meetup autumn 2026   

• Project directive (Swedish): Projektdirektiv_FrU26_2604-ABE_Stadsbyggnad i samverkan.pdf