Investigating the Transformative Capacity of Urban Experimentation . The case of Urban Living Labs : Insights from the Swedish Context

• Main Author: Iliopoulos, Spilios
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: KTH, Urbana och regionala studier 2020
• Subjects: Sweden; urban experimentation; living labs; urban governance; sustainability; transitions; Other Social Sciences; Annan samhällsvetenskap
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-278521

Urban Living Labs emerged in the past decade as spatially embedded multi-stakeholder integrating forms of urban experimentation. They pose as key-nodes for transforming urban governance and generating new, innovative responses to pressing wicked planning and sustainability issues for cities in transition. In Sweden various such projects have been initiated in various locales as parts of European projects that connect different locales. The present Degree Project seeks to examine mechanisms through which Urban Living Labs seek the transformation of established structures towards a more sustainable future in the Swedish context. It does so by analyzing five such projects that have been established in different urban areas in Sweden. In this process it also examines the roles of main actors who play a prominent role in the framework of this form of urban experimentation. This is succeeded through employing a mixed-method approach as a response to the above questions. The main findings point towards the need for extensive networking and exchange of practices between different locales within Sweden and highlight the potentials of urban experimentation for the transformation of the role of main actors. The present Degree Project concludes by reflecting on the future of Urban Living Labs and urban experimentation.