Urban Living Labs: how to enable inclusive transdisciplinary research?

AbstractThe Urban Living Lab (ULL) approach has the potential to create enabling environments for social learning and to be a successful arena for innovative local collaboration in knowledge co-creation and experimentation in the context of research and practice in sustainability transitions. Nevertheless, complex issues such as the urban Food-Water-Energy (FWE) Nexus present a challenge to the realization of such ULL, especially regarding their inclusiveness.We present ULL as a frame for a local knowledge co-creation and participation approach based on the project "Creating Interfaces - Building capacity for integrated governance at the Food-Water-Energy-nexus in cities on the water". This project aims at making FWE Nexus linkages better understandable to the stakeholders (citizens and associations, city government, science, businesses), and to facilitate cooperation and knowledge exchange among them. This paper focuses on and discusses inclusiveness as a key aspect and challenge of ULLs and on what literature and our experiences in this regard suggest for the advancement of the concept of ULL towards ULL 2.0. These findings often also relate to framing transdisciplinary research in a wider sense.

Download Full-text

Living Labs and Urban Smartness

Handbook of Research on Social, Economic, and Environmental Sustainability in the Development of Smart Cities - Advances in Environmental Engineering and Green Technologies ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-8282-5.ch006 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 98-111 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Grazia Concilio ◽

Francesco Molinari

Keyword(s):

Local Governments ◽

Urban Governance ◽

Urban Living ◽

City Life ◽

Life Conditions ◽

Living Lab ◽

Living Labs ◽

Governance Models ◽

Stakeholder Partnerships ◽

Multi Stakeholder

Urban Living Labs are socio-digital innovation environments in realistic city life conditions based on multi-stakeholder partnerships that effectively involve citizens in the co-creation and co-production of new or reformed public services and infrastructures. This chapter explores the growing phenomenon of Urban Living Labs and analyses the nature of related innovations in the perspective of ‘City Smartness' – a mantra for local governments worldwide which are having to address increasingly complex problems with fast diminishing financial resources. It goes on to briefly overview the urban governance models emerging in such environments and finally focuses on the challenges posed by these models as result of integration between the ‘technology push' Smart City vision and the ‘human pull' Urban Living Lab concept and approach.

Download Full-text

Applying an RRI Filter in Key Learning on Urban Living Labs’ Performance

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11143833 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (14) ◽

pp. 3833 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marina Van Geenhuizen

Keyword(s):

Power Distribution ◽

Real Life ◽

Urban Setting ◽

Urban Living ◽

Learning Framework ◽

Research And Innovation ◽

Living Lab ◽

Living Labs ◽

Responsible Research ◽

Practical Implications

Urban living labs is a practical methodology in improving sustainability in cities by facilitating collaborative learning and innovation in a real-life environment, thereby mainly responding to the needs of users (citizens). The paper aims to filter a list of key learnings on urban living labs through the lens of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). One of the motivations is that key learnings on urban living labs are mainly derived from means-goal effectiveness (MGE) thinking while the urban setting calls for a broader perspective due to complexity and tension from the multi-actor, multifunctional, and multi-scalar character of cities. The filtering reveals almost 40 learnings as ‘overlap’ and ‘exclusive for MGE’. Importantly, five learnings are identified as specific for RRI and potentially enriching living lab methodology: ethical and normative principles like health, safety, security, and equality between societal groups, and a wider distribution of benefits and risks of living lab outcomes, in particular, contradictory sustainability issues. The RRI filtering causes three practical implications: coping with uneven power distribution between stakeholders, limited feasibility of applying the comprehensive learning framework, and challenges of overarching platform structures enabling to better incorporate RRI concerns in living lab methodology. The findings as presented in an adapted list are new, as RRI values and concerns have seldom been applied to practical innovation and have never been explicitly applied to urban living labs’ performance beyond the borders of effectiveness thinking.

Download Full-text

Urban Planning by Experiment at Precinct Scale: Embracing Complexity, Ambiguity, and Multiplicity

Urban Planning ◽

10.17645/up.v6i1.3525 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 195-207

Author(s):

Darren Sharp ◽

Rob Raven

Keyword(s):

Urban Planning ◽

Literature Review ◽

Economic Activity ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Urban Transformation ◽

Urban Living ◽

Net Zero ◽

Living Lab ◽

Living Labs ◽

Empirical Illustration

Urban living labs have emerged as spatially embedded arenas for governing urban transformation, where heterogenous actor configurations experiment with new practices, institutions, and infrastructures. This article observes a nascent shift towards experimentation at the precinct scale and responds to a need to further investigate relevant processes in urban experimentation at this scale, and identifies particular challenges for urban planning. We tentatively conceptualise precincts as spatially bounded urban environments loosely delineated by a particular combination of social or economic activity. Our methodology involves an interpretive systematic literature review of urban experimentation and urban living labs at precinct scale, along with an empirical illustration of the Net Zero Initiative at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, which is operationalising its main campus into a living lab focussed on precinct-scale decarbonisation. We identify four processual categories relevant to precinct-scale experimentation: embedding, framing, governing, and learning. We use the empirical illustration to discuss the relevance of these processes, refine findings from the literature review and conclude with a discussion on the implications of our article for future scholarship on urban planning by experiment at precinct scale.

Download Full-text

A Methodology for Designing Smart Urban Living Labs from the University for the Cities of the Future

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21206712 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (20) ◽

pp. 6712

Author(s):

Nadhiely Martínez-Bello ◽

Mónica José Cruz-Prieto ◽

David Güemes-Castorena ◽

Alberto Mendoza-Domínguez

Keyword(s):

Solar Energy ◽

Residual Water ◽

Research Groups ◽

High Demand ◽

Global Trends ◽

Urban Living ◽

Living Lab ◽

Living Labs ◽

Smart Living ◽

The University

Cities have high demand and limited availability of water and energy, so it is necessary to have adequate technologies to make efficient use of these resources and to be able to generate them. This research focuses on developing and executing a methodology for an urban living lab vocation identification for a new water and energy self-sufficient university building. The methods employed were constructing a technological roadmap to identify global trends and select the technologies and practices to be implemented in the building. Among the chosen technologies were those for capturing and using rain and residual water, the generation of solar energy, and water and energy generation and consumption monitoring. This building works as a living laboratory since the operation and monitoring generate knowledge and innovation through students and research groups that develop projects. The insights gained from this study may help other efforts to avoid pitfalls and better design smart living labs and off-grid buildings.

Download Full-text

Kennisuitwisseling voor innovatieontwikkeling in open-innovatienetwerken

Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschappen ◽

10.5117/2014.042.004.005 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 42 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Dimitri Schuurman ◽

Bastiaan Baccarne ◽

Lynn Coorevits ◽

Annabel Georges ◽

Sara Logghe ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Open Innovation ◽

Knowledge Exchange ◽

Innovation Systems ◽

Full Potential ◽

Innovation Network ◽

Innovation Development ◽

Living Lab ◽

Knowledge Transfers ◽

Living Labs ◽

Knowledge Exploration

Knowledge exchange for innovation development in open innovation systems Knowledge exchange for innovation development in open innovation systems ‘Living Lab research’ has been put forward by the European Commission as a solution to bridge the gap between knowledge exploration and exploitation. In this context, the European Network of Living Labs was founded in 2006. However, these Living Labs have not yet reached their full potential. Therefore, conceptualizing and understanding the mechanisms and processes within these Living Labs is necessary. Based on a case study analysis, this paper investigates the potential of Living Labs as open innovation networks and the ability to share knowledge between different actors within these networks. It elaborates on (parameters that affect) knowledge transfers within an open innovation network. Due to the particular constellation as an open innovation network, Living Labs can be a solution for sustainable innovation developments. This open innovation network acts as an innovation intermediary within the innovation projects taking place during the Living Lab allowing optimization of knowledge transfers between the participating actors.

Download Full-text

Living Labs and Urban Smartness

Megacities and Rapid Urbanization ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-9276-1.ch013 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 274-287

Author(s):

Grazia Concilio ◽

Francesco Molinari

Keyword(s):

Local Governments ◽

Urban Governance ◽

Urban Living ◽

City Life ◽

Life Conditions ◽

Living Lab ◽

Living Labs ◽

Governance Models ◽

Stakeholder Partnerships ◽

Multi Stakeholder

Download Full-text

Urban living labs as inter-boundary spaces for sustainability transitions?

Handbook on Planning and Complexity ◽

10.4337/9781786439185.00017 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 237-257

Author(s):

Timo von Wirth ◽

Niki Frantzeskaki ◽

Derk Loorbach

Keyword(s):

Sustainability Transitions ◽

Urban Living ◽

Living Labs

Download Full-text

Impacts of urban living labs on sustainability transitions: mechanisms and strategies for systemic change through experimentation

European Planning Studies ◽

10.1080/09654313.2018.1504895 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 27 (2) ◽

pp. 229-257 ◽

Cited By ~ 49

Author(s):

Timo von Wirth ◽

Lea Fuenfschilling ◽

Niki Frantzeskaki ◽

Lars Coenen

Keyword(s):

Systemic Change ◽

Sustainability Transitions ◽

Urban Living ◽

Living Labs

Download Full-text

Living labs for patient engagement and knowledge exchange: an exploratory sequential mixed methods study to develop a living lab in paediatric rehabilitation

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2020-041530 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. e041530

Author(s):

Mandy M Archibald ◽

Kristy Wittmeier ◽

Matthew Gale ◽

Florencia Ricci ◽

Kelly Russell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mixed Methods ◽

Patient Engagement ◽

Knowledge Exchange ◽

Mixed Methods Study ◽

Integrated Analysis ◽

Prototype Development ◽

Sequential Mixed Methods ◽

Living Lab ◽

Living Labs ◽

Paediatric Rehabilitation

IntroductionDespite recognition of the importance of patient engagement in research and knowledge translation, systematic approaches to engagement and co-ideation remain limited. Living labs are collaborative knowledge sharing systems that use multimethod, user-centred approaches that hold potential to catalyse these aims. However, their use in healthcare is limited, and no living lab has been developed in paediatric rehabilitation. In response to this gap and to propel innovative knowledge exchange, we propose a mixed methods study to co-develop a living lab prototype (ie, preliminary infrastructure with opportunity for scale up) in paediatric rehabilitation, with relevance to other healthcare contexts.MethodsAn exploratory sequential mixed methods study will be undertaken to determine research and knowledge exchange priorities and to inform the development of the living lab prototype. Stage 1: we will use a multipronged approach to sample 18–21 youth with developmental differences or rehabilitation needs, their youth siblings and parents/guardians from a provincial paediatric rehabilitation centre, to participate in qualitative and arts-based data collection. Data will provide insight into desirable features of the living lab. Stage 2: E-surveys to youth, siblings, parents/guardians and clinicians who receive or provide services at this same centre will expand on priorities and living lab features. Stage 3: integrated analysis will inform the living lab prototype development.AnalysisInductive thematic analysis using interpretive description, integrated analysis of visual data and descriptive and content analysis of e-survey data will be undertaken. Joint displays will facilitate data integration. Priorities will be identified using a modified rank-order method for each key living lab domain.Ethics and disseminationInstitutional ethics and site approval have been granted. A parent advisory group and rehabilitation engineering partners will confer on data and inform the development of the living lab prototype. User engagement with the prototype will occur during an online or in-person event, and findings shared through non-technical research summaries, journal articles and academic presentations.

Download Full-text