As architectural education evolves, integrating sustainability demands more than technological solutions; it requires an experiential understanding of physical and spatial design qualities. However, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in architecture has often been shaped by Global North-centric technical approaches, promoting one-size-fits-all solutions. A more holistic understanding, incorporating the cultural and environmental realities of the Global South, remains underexplored. This research investigates how sensory perception, informed by Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and phenomenology, can enhance architectural ESD by fostering contextually grounded design approaches.

As rural-urban migration continues, much of the population finds itself in urban areas, which, in most contexts, offer significantly greater opportunities with fewer social restrictions on the livelihood possibilities available to the urban poor. However, these opportunities are increasingly mediated by digital platforms and will be realised only if such platform-based urban development is tailored to the livelihood aspirations of the poor. Currently, there is a focus on place-based economic investments in the built environment that prioritise brick-and-mortar businesses. These businesses rely on sophisticated supply chains to provide and service retail activity. The benefits behind these place-based developments could be argued to accrue largely to the formal economy.

Architectural education must evolve to equip students with the sustainability literacy and critical thinking needed to translate global goals into locally relevant design strategies. However, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) frameworks often originate in Global North contexts, overlooking Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and the specific learning needs of students in South Africa and the broader Global South. At the same time, current architectural cohorts seek digitally mediated, socially meaningful learning experiences that many studio pedagogies fail to provide.