ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the transformative potential of higher education institutions (HEIs) in facilitating regional green transitions with regional visits and cultivating sustainable imagination through active pedagogical methods. By anchoring students’ learning in real-world interactions, HEIs enhance essential competencies for education for sustainable development, such as systems-thinking, strategic planning, and normative debate, while also nurturing intrapersonal and interpersonal skills. The methods aim to empower students as active contributors to regional sustainable transitions. Utilising a self-study research approach, this chapter emphasises reflective methods and feedback loops to refine pedagogical strategies and foster transformative learning experiences, enhancing students’ competencies in sustainability education. Based on teaching and self-reflective practices at the University of Agder in Norway, it involves 110 students from 2022 to 2025 within courses in teacher education and social sciences, focusing on sustainability. The chapter explores the interplay between sustainability, regional engagement and imagination, illustrating how active pedagogical methods can enhance the competencies necessary for sustainability. It highlights the importance of regional exploration to ground imaginative skills in tangible projects.
