URB@Exp: Urban Labs as a New Form of Participation and Governance

Abstract

Cities are facing economic, social and environmental challenges of growing complexity. Solutions will only be possible by value-based, integrative and inclusive concepts, approaches and processes. Therefore, transdisciplinarity and new governance methods, such as Urban Labs, are needed to meet today’s ‘Grand Challenges’. The transdisciplinary approach of this chapter is based on city-specific societal challenges, which are supplemented by specific scientific challenges leading to science–society interactions and knowledge exchange using participatory experimental platforms, like Living Labs and City Labs. Real-life experiments in these Urban Labs support networking, social and reflexive learning for joint visions, capacity building and co-designing beyond hierarchies, unequal power relations and the dominance of economic interests. Consequently, these novel forms of governance lead to new coalitions and networks, technical and social innovations that foster the capacity of urban actors to cope with complex change dynamics.