James Evans, University of Manchester

1. Transforming universities through co-
production? Shared territories and living
labs
James Evans

2. Key points
• Campuses are being reframed as living labs for sustainability
• Living labs provide framework to strategically align co-
production activities temporally and thematically
• Projects act as shared territories around which actors
coalesce and critically reflect

3. The opportunity: academic resource
3500
2500
1500
500
EPS
Humanities
FLS
Interdisciplinary

4. •85 hectare campus
•Over 300 buildings
•Over 45,000 students
and staff.
•£1bn to be spent on
capital projects in the next
decade
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
before
1840
1840-
1914
1915-
1939
1940-
1959
1960-
1979
since
1980
The opportunity: campus test bed

5. EPS Biomedical
Humanities
North
campus
New Campus

6. Living lab approach
Institutionally bounded
environment in which
to make material
interventions in the
(real) world and learn
from them in a
rigorous way’
Monitor
Experiment
Learn
Evans, J. and Karvonen, A. (2014) Give me a laboratory and I will lower your carbon footprint!’ – Urban Laboratories and
the Pursuit of Low Carbon Futures. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 38 (2), 413-430

7. • Geographically and/or
institutionally bounded space
• Conduct intentional
experiments designed to
enable innovation and
iterative learning
• Involve users in knowledge
co-production
•Promise useful and/or
generalisable knowledge
BUT hard to assess actual
impacts
Characteristics of lab style governance
Silver, J. and Marvin, S. (Forthcoming) Emerging Styles of Urban
Experimentation. In: Evans, J., Karvonen, A. and Raven, R. (Eds.) The
Experimental City. Routledge, London

8. University Living Lab: goals
• Collate existing and potential research and teaching activities for the UoM
campus
• Collate current and planned Estates activities (new build, retrofit and
management) and relevant data
• Establish venues for constructive collaboration between researchers and
Estates
• Apply for long-term funding from the public and private sectors
• Produce a roadmap for future UoM living lab activities

9. Temporal coherence - dissertation projects
• Building refurb:
http://static.universitylivinglab.org/si
tes/default/files/Student%20Dissert
ation%20Opportunities.pdf
• Sustainable procurement:
http://static.universitylivinglab.org/si
tes/default/files/Student%20Dissert
ation%20Opportunities%20procure
ment.pdf
• Living Lab enabling design

10. Public Sector
Government
People
Civic Society
Academia
Higher Education Private Sector
Businesses
Thematic coherence: Manchester Cycling Lab

11. Velocity
2025
Develop a strong shared vision
 TfGM Cycling Strategy
1. Identify citizen’s needs & ideas
Test & demonstrate for
continuous learning
Monitor & evaluate for
continuous improvement
Programmes,
Infrastructure &
Regulation
2. Smart Infrastructure Planning
3. MCR’s Green Economy
Baseline to measure
potential & progress
Explore new ideas
and opportunities
Role of universities in supporting transition

12. Shared Territory: Triangulum
• Horizon 2020 Project, €25m
• Manchester, Eindhoven, and
Stavanger
• Develop low-carbon smart
districts
• Integrated approach to Energy,
Transport and ICT
• Key roles for cities and
industries… AND universities

13. Manchester actions

14. Transforming Universities?
• Co-production needs coordination
- Living labs?
• Project-based actions bring new
actors together to work in new
ways
- Shared territories?
- Transformation as re-
subjectivation

15. Thank you
Seite: 15
jp.evans@manchester.ac.uk
@jzcos
http://universitylivinglab.org/manchestercyclinglab
@mcrcyclinglab
www.universitylivinglab.org
@ULLManchester
www.Triangulum-project.org
@Triangulum_EU