This chapter discusses the theoretical and practical application of design thinking in an educational framework of transformative learning for fostering sustainable development. Technological innovation alone will not suffice to bring about required changes to reconcile our societal metabolism with the planet’s limited biophysical-carrying capacity without a fundamental change in social structures and practices. Human-centred design requires multidisciplinary teams, which have to develop an empathic understanding of user requirements and suitable solutions in an iterative manner by actively involving relevant users into their reasoning and deliberation processes. Design thinking is suitable for people without formal training in design, who will quickly develop confidence in addressing relevant complex challenges posed to organisations, communities, or even society and global economies. It motivates participants to closely engage with the projects at hand and develop responsibility and empathy for the problem and the developed solution alike, and understanding the technological, environmental, and social dimensions of the issues at stake. The experience of being able to come up with creative solutions and seeing how these can have a positive impact in real life is extremely gratifying and empowering. However, although understanding the logic, the main concepts, and methods of the design thinking approach is easy, their application and facilitation require experience and training. The more experienced the team members are, the more effective the process will become, as the attention will shift from applying a method to creating the desired solutions.

The authors report on their experiences with design thinking as a human-centred approach for developing sustainable solutions and providing guidance for its implementation. In particular, it is demonstrated how the design thinking approach uses distinctive methods, tools, and processes and can support the designer, as well as course participants, in problem framing and developing prototype approaches to address these. Design thinking and transformative social learning have many things in common, such as regular reflections and working in diverse groups. In an educational framework, transformative social learning can guide the application of design thinking, whereas design thinking can provide a hands-on learning environment and can contribute its methods to the learning process.