Urban Living Labs: Opportunities in and for Planning

Abstract

This chapter explores some of the most significant potentials of Living Lab environments in urban systems while viewing urban planning as the entire set of transformative practices possible and available in urban contexts. It explores three main potentials of Urban Living Labs, i.e., their being practice-based innovation environments, their capacity to create cross-boundary arenas where many diverse actors and organizations can interact, and, lastly, their being contexts for new modes of urban activism. This chapter also analyzes some challenges launched by Living Labs in urban environments and discusses some possible roles for planners who recognize Living Lab potentials as transformative drivers. Finally, considering the collective (public) experimental perspective introduced by Urban Living Labs, the idea of the city as a laboratory is discussed.