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Moving toward Generalizability? A Scoping Review on Measuring the Impact of Living Labs

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  • Kelly Bronson

    (School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada)

  • Rachana Devkota

    (School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada)

  • Vivian Nguyen

    (Interdisciplinary Science and Practice Program, Institute of Environmental and Interdisciplinary Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada)

Abstract

The living labs (LLs) approach has been applied around the globe to generate innovation within and suited to real-life problems and contexts. Despite the promise of the LL approach for addressing complex challenges like socio-ecological change, there is a gap in practitioner and academic community knowledge surrounding how to measure and evaluate both the performance of a given LL process and its wider impacts. Notably, this gap appears particularly acute in LLs designed to address environmental or agricultural sustainability. This article seeks to verify and address this knowledge gap by conducting an adopted scoping review method which uses a combination of tools for text mining alongside human text analysis. In total, 138 academic articles were screened, out of which 88 articles were read in full and 41 articles were found relevant for this study. The findings reveal limited studies putting forward generalizable approaches or frameworks for evaluating the impact of LLs and even fewer in the agricultural or sustainability sector. The dominant method for evaluation used in the literature is comparative qualitative case studies. This research uncovers a potential tension regarding LL work: the specificity of LL studies works against the development of evaluation indicators and a universal framework to guide the impact assessment of LLs across jurisdictions and studies in order to move toward generalizability.

Suggested Citation

  • Kelly Bronson & Rachana Devkota & Vivian Nguyen, 2021. "Moving toward Generalizability? A Scoping Review on Measuring the Impact of Living Labs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:2:p:502-:d:476149
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lea Fuenfschilling & Niki Frantzeskaki & Lars Coenen, 2019. "Urban experimentation & sustainability transitions," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 219-228, February.
    2. Timo von Wirth & Lea Fuenfschilling & Niki Frantzeskaki & Lars Coenen, 2019. "Impacts of urban living labs on sustainability transitions: mechanisms and strategies for systemic change through experimentation," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 229-257, February.
    3. Claudio Dell’Era & Paolo Landoni & Sara Jane Gonzalez, 2019. "Investigating The Innovation Impacts Of User-Centred And Participatory Strategies Adopted By European Living Labs," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(05), pages 1-20, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Katri-Liis Lepik & Merle Krigul, 2021. "Expectations and Needs of Estonian Health Sector SMEs from Living Labs in an International Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-13, March.
    2. Irene Bouwma & Seerp Wigboldus & Jorieke Potters & Trond Selnes & Sabine van Rooij & Judith Westerink, 2022. "Sustainability Transitions and the Contribution of Living Labs: A Framework to Assess Collective Capabilities and Contextual Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-19, November.
    3. Chris McPhee & Margaret Bancerz & Muriel Mambrini-Doudet & François Chrétien & Christian Huyghe & Javier Gracia-Garza, 2021. "The Defining Characteristics of Agroecosystem Living Labs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-25, February.
    4. Lindsay P. Galway & Charles Z. Levkoe & Rachel L. W. Portinga & Kathryn Milun, 2021. "A Scoping Review Examining Governance, Co-Creation, and Social and Ecological Justice in Living Labs Literature," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.
    5. Marina Van Geenhuizen, 2023. "Knowledge Advancing Shopping Mall Living Labs and Customer Value Co-Creation, with a Focus on Social Integration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-14, November.
    6. Dimitri Schuurman & Seppo Leminen, 2021. "Living Labs Past Achievements, Current Developments, and Future Trajectories," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-6, September.

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