The Role of Action Research in Democratizing Governance: The Case of Bilbao Next Lab

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze how Action Research for Territorial Development (ARTD) promotes democratization in governance spaces. Considering the declared democratic intention of action research (AR) (Gustavsen, 2017; Palshaugen, 2014), ARTD is not an exception (Larrea, 2019). However, this specific relation with democratization has not been yet analyzed, nor measured in ARTD. In a context in which the number of countries categorized as free is at its lowest level in the 21st century (The Freedom House, 2021), the main contribution of this paper is the construction of a new analytical framework in order to assess the degree of democratization in ARTD processes. This analytical framework can be useful for other approaches to AR as well. More specifically, the most important contribution is the analysis of how ARTD may be facilitating such processes. This investigation studies governance at the Bilbao Next Lab, an AR laboratory focused on urban policy making in the Basque Country, Spain. This process is being facilitated through ARTD by the Basque Institute of Competitiveness – Orkestra in alliance with the local government, the Bilbao City Council and its economic development agency, Bilbao Ekintza. The case shows, together with new democratization dimensions analyzed, a deep and diverse bonding system between ARTD and democratization, in which the democratization factors hold to all ARTD elements. The paper discusses how the core ARTD elements are promoting the development of what are considered in theory as democratization factors.