A Scoping Review Examining Governance, Co-Creation, and Social and Ecological Justice in Living Labs Literature

Living Labs (LLs) are increasingly being used as an approach to address complex sustainability-related challenges. Inspired by existing knowledge and practice gaps, calls for further examination of governance and co-creation in relation to LLs work, and our experiences in the Lake Superior Living Labs Network, we conducted a scoping review of the recent (2015–2019) LLs literature. This review focused on peer-reviewed LLs literature aimed at addressing sustainability-related challenges and involving universities as key collaborators specifically. This scoping review addressed the research questions: how are LLs conceptualized, described, and applied? how are LLs governed? How is co-creation supported in LLs work? and, are social and/or environmental justice considered in LLs work? From the 729 citations gathered in the electronic database searches, 48 papers were identified as relevant through the screening and eligibility assessment. We found that this literature is growing rapidly, highly interdisciplinary, and predominantly taking place within European urban centres. We summarize the findings in relation to our research questions and outline implications for interrogating governance, unpacking co-creation, and working towards social and ecological justice in LLs research and practice. We conclude by outlining four key research directions to advance LLs work, including, (1) expanding research across a greater diversity of settings; (2) examining and analyzing governance and power dynamics; (3) exploring how learning evolves via co-creation; and (4) examining how universities are impeding and/or supporting advances in relation to governance, co-creation, and justice in LLs work.

Codiseño y dinamización cultural comunitaria. Reflexiones conceptuales, metodológicas y prácticas a partir de una experiencia desde la periferia

We analyze the potential to generate critical collaborative and pedagogical practices from Design, which contribute to processes of community artistic and cultural development in contexts of marginal, informal and peripheral urbanism with respect to production centers. We start from the experience of joint work since 2016 between a faculty of fine arts and a nearby self-construction neighborhood; Las Moraditas de Taco, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The evidence that "professors are fed up with the classrooms spaces and students lack more experiences in the streets" joins the neighborhood claim; "we live on a mountain but nobody sees us", to explore models of living labs for creation and service-learning, in the recovery and valorization of collective memory, intangible cultural heritage, sense of belonging, dignity and beautification of public space or the external projection of positive values. Special attention is paid to designers’ emerging roles and competencies, such as facilitator, catalyst or mediator. We highlight the relevance of adopting methodological frameworks based on participatory action-research, thus reorienting the traditional, institutional and top-down culture project, towards iterative process cultures of citizen innovation, from which to generate, stimulate and root transformations within the community and the territory. Analizamos el potencial para generar prácticas colaborativas y pedagógicas críticas desde el Diseño, que contribuyan a procesos de desarrollo artístico y cultural comunitario en contextos de urbanismo marginal, informal y periféricos respecto a los centros de producción. Partimos de la experiencia de trabajo conjunto desde 2016 entre una facultad de bellas artes y un barrio de autoconstrucción cercano; Las Moraditas de Taco, en Santa Cruz de Tenerife. La evidencia de que “al profesorado le sobra aula y al alumnado le falta calle” se une a la reivindicación vecinal de “vivimos en una montaña pero nadie nos ve” para explorar modelos de laboratorios vivos de creación y aprendizaje-servicio, en la recuperación y valorización de la memoria colectiva, el patrimonio cultural inmaterial, el sentido de pertenencia, la dignificación y embellecimiento del espacio público o la proyección exterior de valores positivos. Prestamos especial atención a la manifestación de roles y competencias emergentes del diseñador, como facilitador, catalizador o mediador. Constatamos la pertinencia de adoptar marcos metodológicos de investigación-acción participativa, que reorienten la tradicional cultura del proyecto institucional de arriba-abajo hacia una cultura de procesos iterativos de innovación ciudadana desde los que generar, dinamizar y arraigar las transformaciones en la comunidad y el territorio.

A roadmap to becoming a smart village: Experiences from living labs in rural Bavaria

This paper illustrates the measures and digital integrations being made in the course of digitalization, using the example of existing rural pilot communities in Bavaria, Germany. The participating communities were selected as part of the government-funded project "Digitales Dorf" (Engl. digital village). Since 2016, digital solutions as well as complementary actions have been identified and implemented to make everyday life in the community equal to that in the city: the main intention is to push digitalization to create equivalent living conditions to urban areas. This paper is intended to provide an overview of the requirements and steps that need to be taken in digital transformation, in order to develop a generalized blueprint for other communities. Furthermore, it introduces the pilot projects, provides an insight into best practices to promote digitalization in traditional rural areas, and focuses on the transformation process rather than on digital solutions.

A Systematic Literature Review of Partnership Development at the University–Industry–Government Nexus

The increasingly entrepreneurial intent of universities implies the commercialization of knowledge and innovation through the triple helix of interactions between universities, industry and government. However, there remains a lack of clarity concerning best practice partnerships for innovation. This systematic literature review (SLR) provides insights onto the development of partnerships at the university–industry–government nexus and builds on the existing top-down/bottom-up approach for the creation of intermediaries of innovation. The SLR describes the evolution of these intermediaries, which is driven both by criteria set by partners and the globalization of the knowledge economy. This SLR reveals that the partnership structure most likely to further economic and broader societal goals is the living lab with the inherent focus on open innovation and co-creation. This SLR reveals that the living lab structure (and including sustainability labs and urban living labs) is the partnership structure utilized for innovation that addresses economic, social and environmental goals. Two areas are recommended for further research. One concerns the development of a deeper understanding of the relationship between the evolution in the structures of partnerships for innovation and how it is influenced by the globalization of the economy, society and environment, and changing modes of knowledge production. The other is to better understand why the living lab approach to partnership creation is best suited to the delivery of sustainable development objectives and how this learning can be applied to other models of partnership development at the university–industry–government nexus.

Living Labs: A Creative and Collaborative Planning Approach

Communities around the world are facing an increasing number of ‘wicked problems’, many of which are spatial issues. Therefore, high expectations are placed on the role of planning in addressing them. However, such complex challenges cannot be easily solved with the traditional, sectoral planning approaches, or by planners and decision-makers alone; they require a cross-sectoral and societal-inclusive understanding and collaboration of various kinds of stakeholders. Consequently, in the search for new approaches and tools that favour experimentation, flexibility, and collaboration, planners and decision-makers are turning their attention towards the private sector, where Living Labs have been extensively used in open and user-oriented innovation. Despite the growing number of studies that picture them as a ‘magic recipe’ for experimentation and development of creative solutions for ‘wicked problems’, Living Labs have only recently started gaining attention in the spatial domain. In this chapter, we position Living Labs as a creative and collaborative planning approach. Based on a literature review on Living Labs, and on empirical research carried out in three spatial planning and water infrastructure projects from the Netherlands, we propose a five-phased ‘living lab way of working’ and reflect on the role of Living Labs as a planning method. We end by outlining several recommendations that could be useful when considering the use of Living Labs as a planning method. The conclusion of this chapter shows that despite the challenges they pose, Living Labs represent a relevant and growing practice in spatial planning, especially because they provide a conducive way of connecting local-scale and larger-scale planning issues and solutions.