Co-Creation Dynamics in Urban Living Labs

TLDR

Urban Living Labs are spatially embedded sites designed to foster reflexive, adaptive, multi‑actor learning for tackling wicked urban challenges, yet how co‑creation unfolds and its impacts remain understudied. This paper investigates the dynamics of co‑creation, learning, and knowledge generation within Urban Living Labs and their potential contribution to urban sustainability transitions. The study analyzed in‑depth interview data from Urban Living Labs in the Rotterdam‑The Hague region. We identified five distinct co‑creation elements linked to participation, facilitation, and organization, and discussed the ambivalent role of contextualized knowledge for sustainability transitions.

Abstract

Citizens and urban policy makers are experimenting with collaborative ways to tackle wicked urban issues, such as today’s sustainability challenges. In this article, we consider one particular way of collaboration in an experimental setting: Urban Living Labs (ULLs). ULLs are understood as spatially embedded sites for the co-creation of knowledge and solutions by conducting local experiments. As such, ULLs are supposed to offer an arena for reflexive, adaptive, and multi-actor learning environments, where new practices of self-organization and novel (infra-) structures can be tested within their real-world context. Yet, it remains understudied how the co-creation of knowledge and practices actually takes place within ULLs, and how co-creation unfolds their impacts. Hence, this paper focuses on co-creation dynamics in urban living labs, its associated learning and knowledge generation, and how these possibly contribute to urban sustainability transitions. We analyzed empirical data from a series of in-depth interviews and were actively involved with ULLs in the Rotterdam-The Hague region in the Netherlands. Our findings show five distinct types of co-creation elements that relate to specific dynamics of participation, facilitation, and organization. We conclude with a discussion on the ambivalent role of contextualized knowledge and the implications for sustainability transitions.