Abstract
This study explores the Miyanohara participatory land art project in Ōmuta City, Japan, as an innovative teaching method for integrating international exchange students into new cultural and environmental settings within higher education institutions (HEIs). By creating a 74-metre installation depicting the Kasumi salamander at a former coal mine site, eleven international students from Kyushu University's Strategic Design course engaged in embodied learning that transcended linguistic and cultural barriers. Using arts-based methodologies and an eco-social design approach, we demonstrate how land art can serve as a powerful tool for HEIs to foster environmental awareness, cultural integration, and transformational learning experiences for international students. The project highlights how arts-based research and eco-social design can effectively address the dual challenges of sustainability education and international student integration, thereby supporting universities' broader mission as agents of sustainable change.
Keywords
eco-social design, land art, exchange student integration, sustainability education, transformative learning
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1946
Citation
Luostarinen, N., and Sarantou, M. (2026) When play becomes language: Transforming international student experience through environmental art and eco-social design, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1946
Creative Commons License
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Included in
When play becomes language: Transforming international student experience through environmental art and eco-social design
This study explores the Miyanohara participatory land art project in Ōmuta City, Japan, as an innovative teaching method for integrating international exchange students into new cultural and environmental settings within higher education institutions (HEIs). By creating a 74-metre installation depicting the Kasumi salamander at a former coal mine site, eleven international students from Kyushu University's Strategic Design course engaged in embodied learning that transcended linguistic and cultural barriers. Using arts-based methodologies and an eco-social design approach, we demonstrate how land art can serve as a powerful tool for HEIs to foster environmental awareness, cultural integration, and transformational learning experiences for international students. The project highlights how arts-based research and eco-social design can effectively address the dual challenges of sustainability education and international student integration, thereby supporting universities' broader mission as agents of sustainable change.