Sustainable Community Development and Learning Environments: A View from the Academy

The world population is constantly increasing, mainly concentrating in large cities, while rural areas tend to empty out primarily due to a lack of opportunities. As is known, institutions of higher education not only must train the professionals a country needs, but they also must be committed to sustainable development and humanity to achieve a world with citizens co-responsible for human development. Therefore, this study has considered it relevant to focus on learning environments because it is necessary to improve people’s quality of life and to preserve and conserve our natural resources for future generations, based on the Design Thinking methodology as a collaborative work method that confronts and solves challenges or problems arising in a multidisciplinary organization and that must be addressed jointly to achieve effective and sustainable solutions. This study is framed in three types of learning environments: one linked with rural communities, another a community learning center connected with the elderly, and a community of students involved in the development of technological proposals requested by various regions of the country. These cases facilitate sustainable community development because organized communities are the ideal setting for social and economic transformations, becoming agents of change.