Urban Living Labs: learning from practice Giulia Melis SiTI Istituto Superiore sui Sistemi Territoriali per l'Innovazione, Torino, Italy giulia.melis@siti.polito.it Martijn de Waal Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands b.g.m.de.waal@hva.nl ABSTRACT: During recent years, the fast development of Information Technologies (IT) and digital media has introduced new opportunities for a sustainable and inclusive growth of cities, by produc-ing on the one hand lots of data about urban life, and on the other hand, digital media plat-forms. The concept of planning itself is undergoing a cultural transformation, from designing the physical urban environment as an efficient, static backdrop for inhabitation, towards the con-cept of “citymaking”, where the spatial decision making process is dealing with cultural as-pects, liveability, community building, social cohesion and design. Over the last few years a new methodology called ‘Living Lab’ has emerged to involve citizens in the design process. Initially is has mainly been used in the business sector to test commer-cial products, or to involve consumers as co-creators. Recently it has also progressively gained credibility in urban processes, as it facilitates the engagement of stakeholders and their under-standing of the planning problem, as well as the sharing of criteria for vision setting, thus ena-bling a transparent urban planning decision process. During the STSM, which took place in April 2014, the authors have tried to outline how living labs are used in real cases of collaborative planning in the City of Amsterdam, and what is the role of new technologies in these living labs. Nine experiments of Living labs -with or without such a label- on urban processes of planning and requalification were explored, with the aim of tracing out the achievements and weak-nesses of the practices undertaken so far. Through data collection, field surveys and inter-views, the authors asked whether technology is really helping non-expert citizens in being part of complex urban process, allowing real co-creation to happen; and, more generally, analyzed how the role of institutions, designers and citizens is changing in this dynamic scenario. Amsterdam can be recognized as one of the most active cities in the European scenario in promoting innovative initiatives, by the use of open data and the development of smart pro-jects emerging from groups of citizen led proposals; participatory planning experiences are grounded on a solid tradition, and experimentation with numerous opportunities offered by new technologies. The city has recognized this potential and is investing on such projects, mainly by providing the conditions for a smart environment where open applications and initi-atives can be developed. There are several platforms that are already in place: these exhibit not only a high stage of development within the city itself, but also the role of cata

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Urban Living Labs:
learning from practice
Giulia Melis
Martijn de Waal

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23 March 2014
Background
Smart cities vs Smart citizens..
technology push
‘locative media art’
citizen empowerment
..towards citymaking
Urban Living Labs: learning from practice

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• It integrates researchers, public organizations, residents and companies to
co-develop new solutions
• the users of the developed services or solutions are active partners in the
development work during the whole process: from product-testers to co-
designers, from a ‘user-centric’ model to a ‘user-driven’ one
(Helsinkilivinglab.fi).
• the solutions will be developed and evaluated in the real use context,
through an iterative process (JPI 2013)
• besides producing the concrete solutions, the aim is to learn and exchange
knowledge among the partners
• the activities are encouraging and rewarding for all participants
Features of an Urban Living lab
Urban Living Labs: learning from practice

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STSM research questions
• how urban living labs are used in real cases of collaborative
planning?
• are they effective in enhancing communication and social
interaction for setting needs and priorities of citizen in the
urban agenda?
• and in promoting participation in the care for urban
environment?
• are they really on the way towards citymaking processes?
Urban Living Labs: learning from practice

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STSM methodology
analysing literature about and by a range of (mostly
European) Living Labs
• definition
• structure
• experiences
in depth semi-structured interviews with living lab
organizers in the city of Amsterdam
• selection of 9 case studies
• definition of interview questions
• interviews
• field surveys
elaboration and conclusions
• article submission
STSM
2 weeks
beforeafter
Urban Living Labs: learning from practice

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STSM case studies

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LL in urban planning context
Citizens involvement
testers, stakeholders, initiators, ‘hackers’, led by professionals
Urban Living Labs: learning from practice

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The living lab as testing ground
• An enabler (ex. local government institution) has particular goals for
the area: economic stimulation, city marketing, education or societal
improvement
• The enabler plays an important role as a connector between
innovators, local residents, research institutions and local
governments, as well as outside partners
• Geographically bounded areas as sites for open innovation
Amsterdam Economic Board, Amsterdam Creative Industries
+++ both private companies and institutional players can find a way to set
up models for open innovation, actively involving stakeholders and
citizens
!!! this model may be lead to user-centric rather than user-driven
approaches
LL in urban planning context (1)
Urban Living Labs: learning from practice

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the living lab as a co-creation process for citymaking
• based on a particular design process around a particular (local) issue, varying from
city planning to societal issues.
• often a professional designer, a (local) government or societal organization is the
initiator.
• focus on the process of co-design, that is user-driven
Waag society (e-culture lab)
Institution or designers play an important role in setting the stage and defining the
boundaries of the development process, users are invited to think along in the whole
process.
+++ learning process
!!! The issue is often defined by the initiator
Urban Living Labs: learning from practice
LL in urban planning context (2)

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Living lab as a market place for
agenda setting and issue resolution
• organized in a bottom-up way.
• online fora where citizens are able to
put issues on the agenda,
• often aimed at connecting with
sympathizers, with those who may
hold a solution for the problem or are
willing to invest in it, and even with
those who may be in conflict about
the issue at stake.
+++These labs are user-initiated and
user-organized.
!!!questions about the relations between
these initiatives and institutions.
Ex. Kompas op Ijburg
Urban Living Labs: learning from practice
LL in urban planning context (3)

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The elements of Urban Living Labs
five aspects that are especially important
for urban living labs:
1. issue definition,
2. issue visualization,
3. engagement of a public,
4. ideation and prototyping,
5. and resolution.
Urban Living Labs: learning from practice

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a number of different strategies was encountered, in which citizens are invited
in the definition of the issues, from questionnaires and workshops to
storytelling exercises.
!!
1. the framing of the question and the setting of expectations is important.
(risk of leading to false expectations as of what the living lab initiator is able to
accomplish)
2. living lab initiator may see an important role for themselves as moderators
and translators.
(for instance when people say ‘we want more police’, the underlying issue
might be ‘lack of a sense of safety’. )
This translation of the issue opens up the door to different solutions
Urban Living Labs: learning from practice
1. Setting the stage and naming the issue

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Methods found in our research:
• use of graphics and datavis-practices to express a
concept in a clear and captivating way. The visualization
and/or mapping of (open) data sets can make particular
societal issues and development opportunities
understandable. (es.Energy Atlas).
• art installations in public spaces to visualize the issue or
organize events: to attract the attention of passers by
and act as a ‘discussion piece’. Several interviewees
stress the importance of this practice. In order to
familiarize publics with opportunities to engage with
issues in an (online) living lab, manifestations in public
space are essential. (es.Regional Strategic Plan).
• visualization in the ideation and prototyping phase of
living labs. Some labs report to make use of models that
help people to express their emotions and their feelings
(toys or scale models).
Urban Living Labs: learning from practice
2. Visualizing the issue

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Engaging a public is typically specific of urban living labs: citymaking
is an inclusive approach to planning, and citizens are automatically
classified as stakeholders in the process.
Ex. Glamourmanifest
Different techniques :
• storytelling,
• datavis,
• serious gaming,
• artworksart performances in public space.
• mouth to mouth communication
• online social networks
Urban Living Labs: learning from practice
3. Engaging a public around the issue

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Ideation and prototyping are a key element in every (urban) living lab.
The central issue is how to combine input from citizens with the knowledge and
skills of professionals
• professionals grab ideas form public
• design tools are explained to general public
• exchange between professionals and not
Urban Living Labs: learning from practice
4. Ideation and prototyping

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How to decide which of the ideated solutions
should be applied to the local environment?
Matter of governance:
ULL can provide solutions to local problems,
and traditional governmental institutions can
give these solutions a legitimate base
Can a practice be sustained beyond the
experiment itself, and what is necessary for
that?
Matter of scaling, replication,
institutionalization, responsibility
Urban Living Labs: learning from practice
5. Resolution and Institutionalization

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In many of the projects analyzed, the relations between
citizens, designers and governments have changed.
They have indeed opened up the process of city making.
ULL promise a more active role for citizens in the process
of citymaking, albeit in various degrees.
Social media networks have even provided citizens with
tools to bring up issues and engage a public around
these issues themselves, although they may need to
work together with professionals and institutions to get
their proposed solutions off the ground.
Local government could offer tools to develop this
relation further (e.g. micro-credits for community
initiatives).
Some cultural institutions and other organizations see a
role for them as brokers between bottom-up and top
down, for instance through the organization of living labs.
Urban Living Labs: learning from practice
Conclusions

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Our profession shifted from doing research
and being consultants, to basically
become some kind of public developer. In
that process it no longer suffices to
present your ideas and let citizens react to
it, and that’s the participation.. It’s much
more about building networks that develop
a shared vision on an area. And we also
need to think about implementation. As we
cannot stay in an area all the time, we
need to develop a strategy to hand over
the project.
STIPO
Conclusions
Professional designers themselves have
also taken up new roles.

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While these projects have given some insights in how citymaking can be organized in
new ways, we don’t have any evidence about the scalability or long-term success of
projects like this.
So far Urban Living Labs are mainly in the domain of context-research – they are still
mainly a prototype for new ways of citymaking themselves.
The next step would be to see how these prototypes can be scaled up, and become
truly transformative.
Conclusions
Urban Living Labs: learning from practice

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Thank you for your attention!
giulia.melis@siti.polito.it
b.g.m.de.waal@hva.nl