Experiencing Third Spaces in between University and Society: Transdisciplinary Learning Experiences in a Shopping Center

Abstract

What happens when a university leaves its campus and enter spaces that seem reserved for completely different functions and areas of life - such as shopping? What opportunities and potentials arise from such a shift for the dialog between science and society? Is it an innovative way for science communication to reach groups other than the education-oriented middle class? What skills do academics need to succeed in such a setting? These and similar questions formed the starting point of the Berlin project “Mall Anders - Open Learning Lab for Science and Society”. For seven months in 2021/22, TU Berlin used a retail space in a shopping mall to test new ways of communicating science and co-producing knowledge in a dialogue between the university, business, civil society, politics, and culture. The relocation of university life to a public shopping center enabled broad public involvement in teaching and learning, high activating potential in overcoming the rifts between university and society and new impulses for science communication, participatory research, and student-organized teaching.