Urban Living Labs: Pathways of Sustainability Transitions towards Innovative City Systems from a Circular Economy Perspective

Diego Hernando Florez Ayala (), Anete Alberton and Aksel Ersoy ()
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Diego Hernando Florez Ayala: Graduate Program in Management, Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, R. Uruguai, 458, Itajaí 88302-901, Brazil
Anete Alberton: Graduate Program in Management, Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, R. Uruguai, 458, Itajaí 88302-901, Brazil
Aksel Ersoy: Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Postbus 5, 2600 AA Delft, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 16, 1-29

Abstract: Urban living labs (ULLs) are progressive forms of interventions that aim to fulfil the sustainability ambitions of cities and communities. They provide opportunities to translate new ideas into practice. The increasing interest among researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in understanding sustainability transitions (ST) has brought new forms of experimentation through which cities and communities can be governed. Recently, there has been increasing attention towards the concept of circular economy (CE). This term promises the creation of distinct city systems in which material flows can be managed efficiently. In this article, we explore how ULLs can become pathways of sustainability transition towards innovative city systems from a circular economy perspective. By adopting a series of systematic analyses, i.e., multiple correspondence analysis and content analysis, we demonstrate the main pathways of circular economy-oriented innovative city systems that have been used in the literature. As a result of this work, we identify the main pathways, namely knowledge production, policy making, co-creation, geographical embeddedness, urban transitions, networks of cooperation among institutions, culture change, and collaborative engagement.

Keywords: urban living labs; sustainability transitions; circular economy; innovative city systems; pathways (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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