Barriers to the Adoption of Urban Living Labs for NBS Implementation: A Systemic Perspective

Shahryar Sarabi, Qi Han, A. Georges L. Romme, Bauke de Vries, Rianne Valkenburg, Elke den Ouden, Spela Zalokar and Laura Wendling
Additional contact information
Shahryar Sarabi: Information Systems in the Built Environment (ISBE) Group, Department of Built Environment, Eindhoven University of Technology, Groene Loper 3, 5612 AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Qi Han: Information Systems in the Built Environment (ISBE) Group, Department of Built Environment, Eindhoven University of Technology, Groene Loper 3, 5612 AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands
A. Georges L. Romme: Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, Groene Loper 3, 5612 AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Bauke de Vries: Information Systems in the Built Environment (ISBE) Group, Department of Built Environment, Eindhoven University of Technology, Groene Loper 3, 5612 AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Rianne Valkenburg: Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, Groene Loper 3, 5612 AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Elke den Ouden: Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, Groene Loper 3, 5612 AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Spela Zalokar: ENoLL, Pleinlaan 9, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium
Laura Wendling: VTT Technical Research Centre Ltd., 02150 Espoo, Finland

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-15

Abstract: Urban Living Labs (ULLs) are widely believed to provide a safe environment for experimentation, co-creation and evaluation of innovations in real-life settings. A growing number of cities have been adopting ULLs to co-create and test Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). However, many of these cities have been facing major barriers in trying to adopt the ULL approach for implementing NBS. In this study, we seek to identify these barriers and provide a systemic understanding. Barriers are identified by means of workshops and interviews. Subsequently, interpretive structural modelling serves to identify the interdependencies among the barriers, resulting in a structural model of barriers in adopting ULLs for NBS. Our results show that political and institutional barriers are significantly limiting the adoption of ULLs. Moreover, knowledge brokers and other intermediaries, as well as cross-sectoral collaboration, play a key role in getting ULLs adopted. The findings from this study can help cities to develop strategies that overcome the main barriers for ULL adoption in the context of nature-based solutions.

Keywords: urban living lab; nature-based solutions; NBS; barriers; interpretive structural modelling; urban experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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