Towards Sustainability in Urban Living Labs: Dynamics of Actor Roles

Abstract

Environmental sustainability is an increasingly interesting topic among living labs where diverse actor roles and their dynamic are rooted into new urban living labs. Therefore, this study examines the actor roles and their dynamics in the design, implementation and evaluation phases of the four living lab projects in the Hiedanranta district in Tampere in Finland. The projects focus on nutrient recycling and material circulation, and their outcomes contribute to the circular economy and sustainability of the region to a large extent. We apply a qualitative research design including semi-structured interviews reinforced with the secondary data from the project reports and websites. The findings of the study indicate that the driving actors may change in the project phases in urban living labs depending on the required tasks and the competence level of the actors. The roles may be shared by different actor types and change depending on the project requirements.