Students and communities explore the Living Lab approach at the Living Teaching: Identity and Society programme encounter

The University of Minho, in collaboration with the University of Granada and local partners in Arcos de Valdevez, successfully concluded the Living Teaching: Identity and Society – Learn and Build Knowledge with Community initiative, developed within Arqus. The programme brought together students, academics and local communities in an innovative learning experience centred on participatory methodologies, cultural heritage and social engagement.

Throughout the 2025/2026 academic year, students from Archaeology, Architecture, Sociology and Communication Sciences participated in a series of preparatory workshops exploring the Living Lab approach and collaborative knowledge creation. These sessions culminated in an immersive field experience held in the village of Extremo (Arcos de Valdevez), where participants worked alongside community members to investigate the relationships between identity, landscape, heritage and society.

Over three days of fieldwork, students documented archaeological and architectural heritage, explored rural landscapes, carried out collaborative mapping activities and engaged in dialogue with residents. By combining academic knowledge with community expertise, the initiative demonstrated the value of participatory and interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and preserving cultural heritage.

The programme concluded with a final hybrid workshop at the University of Minho, where participants presented the projects developed throughout the initiative and reflected on the contribution of Living Labs to heritage education, community engagement and innovative teaching practices.

Article written by João Pedro Gonçalves