Scaling Deep with Local Community Champions in Living Labs

Oliver Weberg (), Vaike Fors and Jesper Lund
Additional contact information
Oliver Weberg: School of Information Technology, Halmstad University, 30118 Halmstad, Sweden
Vaike Fors: School of Information Technology, Halmstad University, 30118 Halmstad, Sweden
Jesper Lund: School of Information Technology, Halmstad University, 30118 Halmstad, Sweden

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 13, 1-20

Abstract: Living Labs are collaborative, real-world environments for co-creating sustainable innovations that rely on trust-based engagement with local communities. However, while many studies emphasise scaling up or out of such innovations, the potential for achieving qualitative transformations in relation to local values (“scaling deep”) remains underexplored. In response, we adopted a design ethnographic approach that blended immersive, reflexive ethnographic methods with the participatory co-design characteristics of Living Labs. This approach involved closely partnering with a local community champion through participant observation and co-creation workshops embedded in the community’s daily life. Our findings show that community champions acted as co-creators and mediators, building trust and aligning Living Lab activities with local values through a relational ethic of care. By immersing the research team in day-to-day community life via shared activities and open dialogue, champions enabled situated learning about local needs, thereby facilitating “scaling deep” through mutual trust and understanding. Overall, the study demonstrates that scaling deep in Living Labs hinges on embodied researcher–community partnerships in mutual care and shared responsibility. The study contributes to the Living Lab literature by illustrating how community champions can bridge understanding about sustainable transformations through relational engagement.

Keywords: living labs; scaling deep; community champions; design ethnography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/5888/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/5888/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:13:p:5888-:d:1688135

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().