IN-PERSON MADRID FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY. SECTION A

Abstract

As designers confront the inseparability of ecological crisis and urban transformation, the ability to identify meaningful design problems—before proposing solutions—has become paramount. This paper investigates how GIS and computational mapping practices fundamentally reshape how design students discover, frame, and articulate sustainability challenges embedded within urban nature. Drawing from pedagogical research conducted with architecture students at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, this work demonstrates that GIS operates not merely as a tool for data visualization or late-stage decision support, but as a generative catalyst for redefining what design problems are and why they matter. Through exploratory mapping exercises, students engage urban nature as a dynamic assemblage of ecological, cultural, and technological relations—moving beyond conventional site analysis toward what we term “speculative problem-finding.” The paper reveals how competence development in contemporary design practice depends critically on epistemic shifts: students who integrate GIS into early-stage exploration cultivate enhanced systems thinking, multi-scalar reasoning, and the capacity to recognize hidden interdependencies between built environments and ecological processes. These competences prove essential for addressing the Sustainable Development Goals embedded within urban design curricula, yet remain underutilized in professional practice. However, the research also identifies significant barriers to adoption. We examine why students and practitioners resist deeper engagement with computational tools and propose pedagogical strategies that position technology as a means of unlocking—rather than constraining—design imagination. The work argues for teaching GIS not as technical proficiency but as a reflective, critical practice: one that fosters the intellectual resilience and adaptive thinking required for sustainable, nature-centered urban design.