Experimentation or projectification of urban change? A critical appraisal and three steps forward

Jonas Torrens,Timo Von Wirth

doi:10.1186/s42854-021-00025-1

Jonas Torrens, Timo Von Wirth

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s42854-021-00025-1

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Abstract

Urban experimentation has proliferated in recent years as a response to sustainability challenges and renewed pressures on urban governance. In many European cities, diverse and rapidly changing experimental forms (e.g. urban living laboratories, pilots, trials, experimental districts) are becoming commonplace, addressing ambitious goals for smartness, circularity, and liveability. Academically, there is a growing concern for moving beyond the focus on individual experiments and the insistence on upscaling their primary transformation mechanism. However, the phenomena of ‘projectification’ – whereby project-based forms of organising have become ubiquitous, shaping expectations about experimentation – is increasingly perceived as a barrier. Nevertheless, how specifically experimentation and projectification intersect remains unclear. Our theoretical perspective examines how the widespread tendency towards projectification shapes urban experimentation and the potential implications for urban transformations. It problematises the current wave of experimentation and how it contributes to the projectification of urban change processes. We present three steps to redress this issue and indicate directions for future research.

Highlights

Urban responses to societal challenges are increasingly experimental (Bulkeley and Castán Broto, 2013; Evans et al, 2016; Fuenfschilling et al, 2019; Torrens et al, 2018; von Wirth et al, 2019)
We argue experimentation is taking place in contexts where a project logic is prevalent through different forms of projectification, contributing to the process we label as the projectification of urban change processes
This perspective examined the relationship between urban experimentation and different forms of projectification

Summary

Introduction

Urban responses to societal challenges are increasingly experimental (Bulkeley and Castán Broto, 2013; Evans et al, 2016; Fuenfschilling et al, 2019; Torrens et al, 2018; von Wirth et al, 2019). The discussion held at the 2019 Urban Transitions Pathways Symposium, organised by JPI Urban Europe,1 highlighted three related issues that could hinder the transformative potential of the current wave of experiments: projectification, fragmentation of governance capacities and discontinuity.

Results

Conclusion