Sustainability Transitions and the Contribution of Living Labs: A Framework to Assess Collective Capabilities and Contextual Performance

Irene Bouwma (), Seerp Wigboldus, Jorieke Potters, Trond Selnes, Sabine van Rooij and Judith Westerink
Additional contact information
Irene Bouwma: Wageningen Environmental Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Seerp Wigboldus: Wageningen Plant Research, P.O. Box 430, 8200 AK Lelystad, The Netherlands
Jorieke Potters: Wageningen Plant Research, P.O. Box 430, 8200 AK Lelystad, The Netherlands
Trond Selnes: Wageningen Economic Research, P.O. Box 29703, 2502 LS Den Haag, The Netherlands
Sabine van Rooij: Wageningen Environmental Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Judith Westerink: Wageningen Environmental Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 23, 1-19

Abstract: Living labs are understood as collaborative platforms in which actors from research, government and business, and citizens, work together to address complex societal challenges. They are increasingly seen as an instrument to support sustainability transitions, such as transitions to a circular bio-based climate smart society. Living labs can create spaces for joint experimenting and learning by exploring the barriers and possibilities for transition and co-creating appropriate and viable solutions. These high expectations for and increased interest in living labs has sparked a keen interest in methods for assessing the performance of living labs. However, there is not yet an evaluation method or framework that is generally accepted and used. The few existing methods and frameworks mostly focus on the functioning of the living lab itself, and not on its wider impacts. Building on existing approaches and informed by the experiences in three living labs, we developed an assessment framework that enables the capturing of the dynamic role and contribution of living labs. This paper describes the framework and how it was developed. The paper contributes to the development of appropriate ways of assessing the functioning of living labs and the ways in which they contribute to sustainability transitions.

Keywords: sustainable agriculture; theory of change; partnership; collaborative search; evaluation; shared learning (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 (3)

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