The LEGO System as a tool for thinking, creativity, and changing the world

This chapter looks at LEGO as a tool for supporting creative thinking, developing creative cultures, and contributing to processes which might make a difference in how the world works. My thoughts about these ambitious themes are not plucked from nowhere, and nor are they those of a passive observer, but they might be treated cautiously for a different reason, because they draw upon my experience of several years of close collaboration with the LEGO Group in Billund, Denmark. I am an academic, a Professor in the Faculty of Media, Arts and Design at the University of Westminster in London, UK, but this means I have also – very happily, for me – been able to work with LEGO on a number of projects, as part of their ongoing collaboration with selected academic researchers. From 2005, I worked with the LEGO Group on the development of the consultancy process, LEGO Serious Play, and since 2008, I have worked with the LEGO Learning Institute and the LEGO Foundation exploring play, creativity and learning.