Living Labs—A Concept for Co-Designing Nature-Based Solutions

Gerd Lupp,Aude Zingraff-Hamed,Josh J Huang,Amy Oen,Stephan Pauleit

doi:10.3390/su13010188

Gerd Lupp, Aude Zingraff-Hamed + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010188

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Abstract

Living Labs are recognized as a progressive form to foster innovation and the strengthening of collaborative planning. The concept has received strong attention by the European Union (EU) research and innovation agendas recently. This contribution investigates how a Living Lab approach could be used for the design and implementation of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). NBS are gaining acceptance as a more sustainable solution for reducing the exposure to natural hazards and vulnerability to events, such as increased flooding in changing climate. However, a lack of collaborative approaches hinders their broader implementation. A literature review on the theoretical aspects of the Living Labs concept in the context of NBS is conducted, and we compare the theoretical findings with practices that were observed by case studies implementing NBS in a collaborative manner. The Isar-Plan River Restoration in Munich, Germany, and the Mountain Forest Initiative (Bergwaldoffensive). Both of the case studies have already started well before the concept of Living Labs gained wider popularity. Both award-winning cases are recognized good practice for their exemplary in-depth stakeholder involvement. The paper discusses the concepts and approaches of Living Labs and reflects on how it can serve and support in-depth participatory stakeholder involvement.

Highlights

Climate change is resulting in an increase of extreme hydro-meteorological events, which, in turn, results in more frequent and more severe floods and droughts [1]
We investigate how Living Labs and their approaches could serve in cooperative planning of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS)
We identify the characteristics of Living Labs, strengths and weaknesses, and in which ways the concept can be used in NBS

Summary

Introduction

Climate change is resulting in an increase of extreme hydro-meteorological events, which, in turn, results in more frequent and more severe floods and droughts [1]. Around the end of the 1980s, after decades of implementation of technical engineering solutions, planners and engineers started to look at nature as a source of inspiration for mitigating the increase of natural hazards that result from extreme hydro-meteorological events. NBS can be defined as “solutions that are inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social, and economic benefits, and help to build resilience. Such solutions bring increasingly diverse nature and natural features and processes into cities, landscapes, and seascapes, through locally adapted, resource-efficient, and systemic interventions” [4]

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