Belediyelerde İnovasyon: “Living Lab” Örneği

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to introduce the “Living Lab” ecosystem and to describe innovation in municipalities. Living labs are becoming more common and long-lasting. The concept views cities as innovation laboratories, with the goal of improving citizens’ quality of life through the products and services provided, as well as democratising innovation by emphasising citizen and other stakeholder participation. The EU has described it as an innovation tool. The study, which includes theoretical and visual research, is about the Basaksehir Living Lab. The Living Lab network recognised this lab in a field study aimed at metropolitan municipalities as well as innovation projects, with a comparison to those in Finland, the United Kingdom, and Spain. The field studies were designed to contribute to future innovation studies to be conducted in municipalities. For the qualitative study, the “case study” method was chosen. The study’s findings show that innovation research within urban planning, as well as social innovation projects, have materialised. However, more than half of the projects in the Living Labs are technological in nature. The study’s findings suggest that due to factors such as requirements, needs, and technological developments, innovation, whose importance is emphasised and encouraged in international documentation and policies, is unavoidable in municipalities. Cities must be transformed into innovation laboratories, and the Living Lab ecosystem, in fact, has a catalysing effect on municipal innovation.