LSS 2024: Living (in) Repairs

The Living Summer School (LSS) is a free annual informal education program that brings together European and local young people to lead multidisciplinary experiments in territorial innovation. The program is held in Kortrijk, Belgium and is Erasmus+ certified. Through collaboration with local partners, participants design and implement sustainable initiatives in the urban and rural areas of Southwest Flanders.The program employs collaborative and experiential learning methods to promote a sense of shared responsibility.

Each year we choose a theme within general global trends and link it to hyper-local case studies. Through a multidisciplinary approach, participants work in teams to address challenges at a local level, but with a global impact. We have successfully run two editions of the summer school and we’re working towards realising the third one: “Living Makeshifts” in 2023.

Living (in) Repairs: the 2024 Edition of the Living Summer School

In 2024, we would like to inhabit again the three construction sites previously intervened on during the 2023 edition of the summer school "Living Makeshifts.". 

We will the maintain the construction process of the three "living prototypes": design interventions that prioritize sustainability and utilize circular materials. These prototypes were all co-designed by group consisting of participants, alumni, partners, and mentors. These prototypes have been experienced, lived and tested by our partners for one year, between the 2023 and 2024 editions. Their feedback will be a precious insights for the 2024 construction process. 

We understand construction as an ongoing endeavor that must prioritise care, therefore the focus for this year edition will be repairing the relations to materiality, to the community and with non-human stakeholders that these interventions have initiated. Therefore, the focus of this year's edition will be on repairing relations with materiality, the community, and non-human stakeholders initiated by these interventions. Participants of the Living Summer School will engage in reflection on the regenerative power of mending and repairing, aiming towards a more sustainable future.

Ultimately, our hope is that these interventions, developed over the course of two years, will have a lasting impact on the community, through potential scaling, material innovation, and reproduction in other contexts.

Navigating Informal Education - Living Conference:

In the context of the Living Summer School, we’ll also be holding a conference on informal education. This gathering will bring together people from across Europe to share their vision and experiences for renewed approaches to education. 

Collaboration with LINA fellows

Bernadetta Budzik will facilitate the design and building process of one of the teams. Soundcamp will be running a sound experiment trying to archive informal situations without formalising them. 

Applicants for 2024 fellowships can select this event to express interest in collaboration with Living summer school in future iterations of the event, or additional future events.

Invitation for participants

Organisers are looking for participants from all backgrounds under 30 years of age who reside in any of the 27 EU countries. Successful applicants will receive a grant to cover their accommodation, food and travel. More information can be found at the Living Summer School website!