“Living Labs” are an increasingly popular tool for research and innovation projects involving multiple stakeholders. But what exactly is a Living Lab? What does it aim to accomplish, and how does it work? A new publication by ROBUST Partners Marina Kobzeva and Karlheinz Knickel (PRAC) tackles exactly these questions, unpacking the term and providing concrete examples from the ROBUST project. Based on interviews with representatives from the project’s 11 place-based case studies (Living Labs), the article presents a diverse set of perspectives, expectations and first experiences.

Partners in ROBUST refer to “rethinking opportunities”, “real-life-driven”, the “balancing of a bigger theoretical picture with practical considerations” and the capacity-building effect of “learning-by-doing”. There is a thorough expectation that ROBUST will provide valuable insights into the functioning of Living Labs that are highly relevant for transdisciplinary multi-actor projects.

The 11 regions and cities interviewed for the article are:

• Frankfurt Rhine-Main (Germany)
• Gloucestershire (UK)
• Helsinki Municipality (Finland)
• Lisbon Metropolitan Area (Portugal)
• Ljubljana Urban Region (Slovenia)
• Mid-Wales (UK)
• Metropolitan Area of Styria (Austria)
• Municipality of Ede (The Netherlands)
• Province of Lucca (Italy)
• Tukums Municipality (Latvia)
• Valencia (Spain)

To learn more, download the article here.