Urban Living Labs, an innovative solution for the renewal of the making of urban services?[Les Urban Living Labs, une solution innovante pour le renouvellement de la fabrique des services urbains ?]

Urban Living Labs (ULLs) are territorialised socio-technical systems which aim to encourage the deployment of innovative and user-centric experiments in a real environment. Empirical study of two urban experiments supported by two European ULLs, «Lisière d'une Tierce Forêt» supported by Urban Lab of Paris&Co in Paris and «The Circular Kitchen» supported by AMS Institute in Amsterdam, makes it possible to explore their operational and ecosystemic intermediation roles, and their integration into the innovation support policy carried out by European metropolitan areas. This qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews conducted in situ with the contributors to the experiments highlights the innovative nature of the experiments, which is based on the articulation of creativity and innovation strategies of endogenous actors. The study first shows that ULLs contribute to the construction of creative collective dynamics which go beyond the geographical framework of experiments, but which leave users-citizens at a distance from the innovation process. We then analyse how ULLs are mobilised as distant tools for the implementation of local entrepreneurial strategies, while addressing the resolution of emerging and complex territorial issues. By relying on the evidence of the progressive constitution of tangible and intangible resources carried by the ULLs, the article thus illustrates the contribution of these socio-technical systems to a certain «platformisation» of the city.