Work package Living Lab Design

Aim

The overall ambition of this work package is to enable an explorative and in-depth transdisciplinary knowledge production through living lab research. More specifically, the aim is to advance practice- oriented design research and collaborative design methods within living lab research and to provide real life experiments to demonstrate sustainable and accessible mobility service systems where alternative solutions are explored. Additionally, the aim of this work package is to sustain Living Lab 2 from Mistra SAMS phase 1, and to set up and maintain Living Lab 3.

Content and Scientific context

Building further on urban living labs but emphasizing socio-technical experimentation (Sengers et al., 2016), we engage in practice-oriented design (Shove, 2007; Kuijer, 2014). We use methods from design practice (practice based design research) to facilitate transdisciplinary knowledge production. We describe our approach as Designerly Living Labs (Sjöman & Hesselgren, 2020). Essentially, a designerly living lab consists of recruited participants and stakeholders, and one or more design interventions. These interventions involve introducing possible future technologies, regulations or services, but not with the primary purpose of testing or validating them as designed solutions. Instead, these interventions act as ‘provisional concepts’ (Sanders & Stappers, 2014; Vaajakallio & Mattelmäki, 2014) which become starting points for explorative and collaborative learning processes.

To capture practice developments amongst citizens, and advance knowledge on sustainable citizenship, and to understand socio-material configurations, we will design interventions that offer alternative opportunities and disturb current mobility practices, aiming at prompting living lab participants to experiment. We will, for example, design and use travel diaries and workbooks where participants will be encouraged to reflect on their everyday practices and possible changes of these. To capture public and market actors' possibilities to realise their transformative governance capacities and sustainable entrepreneurship, we will for example design and develop scenarios and workshop tools that enable these actors to learn from citizens everyday life and re-imagine future possibilities for sustainability transformations. Here, designerly generative methods will be used to not only facilitate the workshop discussions but also to engage them in co-creating and staging the interventions that will be explored throughout the research program.

Work package leader

The leader of this work package is Mia Hesselgren, KTH

Tasks

Task L1: Setting up and running living labs

Aim

Task L1 involves setting up and running Living Lab 3 (together with the other work packages) and includes practical and hands-on work in creating and sustaining them. Task L1 also involves sustaining Living Lab 2 which is already running as part of Mistra SAMS Phase 1.

Content

The process for setting up and running the Living Lab 3 will be performed in four steps

1. Frame the scope: The first step is to frame the research scope for the living lab. This step, which is based upon previous knowledge, is carried out in collaboration with the other research perspectives and work packages in the program. The framing process identifies specific research objectives and sets the research arena for the mobility and accessibility services systems that will be explored in the research program. This will be built on already developed knowledge in Mistra SAMS Phase 1 which includes defined needs for mobility services that support car-free everyday life. These services can include ride sharing (for example when work commuting or supporting children participating in leisure activities), grocery shopping services (for example with bike-based home deliveries and concierge services) and other related services (for example assistance to get rid of stuff), as well as last-mile transport services connecting with public transport.
2. Listen and co-create: In the second step, this task will organise workshops with partners to define and collaboratively create the specific interventions that will be developed and run during 2022 and 2023. Proposals in the shape of rich scenarios and rough prototypes will be developed iteratively. These proposals build on insights from previous research as well as interviews and workshops with living lab participants, partners and stakeholders (i.e. research activities carried out in C2, P2 and M2). The workshops will gradually bring the research team to well informed decisions on which design interventions to realize.
3. Shape and reshape: In the third step, the living lab will be implemented, including the developed digital platform. The digital platform will be designed and developed by the partner Smart Resenär, and this platform will be implemented and explored by selected citizen groups (see further section 2.6 and Task C3 below). Furthermore, the decided design interventions will be created and implemented to provide empirical grounds for exploration and data collection from all research perspectives and enable learning spaces for exploring research questions in C3, P3 and M3. These interventions will include the digital platform and include specific services provided through the platform. Those participants included in the interventions are considered as co-researchers of their own practices and will be engaged in the specific research activities for each intervention.
4. Sustain the Living labs: Once the interventions are implemented there will be practical issues to be managed whereby additions and adjustments will be required. Managing the living labs is similar to running a start up company and as interventions often challenge surrounding structures many actions will be required. These will be taken care of on a daily basis. If substantial changes are required exceeding budget allowance, these will be discussed at the program executive committee.

Deliverables

Sustaining LL2 during 2021.

Setting up LL3 during 2021.

Running and reshaping LL3 during 2022 and 2023.

1 co-written publication with other work packages to special issue (Q1 2024).

1 chapter to the WP S anthology (Q2 2024).

Task leader:  Mia Hesselgren, KTH ​​​​​​​

Task L2: Exploring practice links through design

 Aim

The overall aim of this task is to advance knowledge on how practice-oriented design can support change (Kuijer, 2014), by using practices as a design material (Hesselgren, 2019). The task is based upon an understanding that materials, skills and cultural meanings all form elements of practices, and when new links between these elements are shaped, new practices can emerge (Shove et al., 2012).

Task L2 studies how materials and places (physical and/or digital) introduced in the living lab interventions, make or break links that enable sustainable mobility practices. To be able to shift these practices in sustainability directions, better understanding of practice elements is needed since mobility practices often are routinised. Task L2 supports tasks L1 and C3 by paying attention to materials and materialities in staging the interventions and exploring citizens perspectives.

The task will address the following research questions:

• What materials are used by citizens who engage in sustainable mobility practices? What materials are required for sustainable mobility practices to emerge and be maintained?
• How can the introduction of thoughtfully designed materials be used to explore sustainable mobility practices? How can these materials mitigate car-dependent practices and shift the use of unsustainable transport into sustainable mobility practices?

Content

This task includes, for example, studying how multi-modal mobility practices can be facilitated through the design of places such as digital platforms, hubs and changing points, and through materials such as bags and delivery boxes. Furthermore, it includes investigating how designed materials can support the development of participants’ skills in sustainable mobility practices. Equally, understanding when skills do not develop could help identify elements that are missing to form practices. The research in task L2 will also pay attention to shifts in cultural meaning in the way participants express ideas and will be closely linked to the work carried out in Task C2 which precedes L2. The work carried out in L2 will, in return, provide insights on how to craft mobility concepts and which materials to include. Interviews carried out in C3 will be supported by task L2 to add the design perspective and in particular identify opportunities to reshape materials.

Deliverables: Two peer-reviewed journal publications (Q1 and Q2 2024), whereof one is intended for the Special issue coordinated by WPS.

Task leader:  Mia Hesselgren, KTH

Task L3: Advancing collaborative design methods in living labs 

Aim

This task aims to explore and develop collaborative design and transdisciplinary research methods deployed within this work package, and specifically advance knowledge of designerly living lab methods. Task L3 aims to build knowledge on how these design methods can be useful for exploring pathways for transformations towards sustainable accessibility and mobility. It will also explore how transformative capacities of public and market actors can be identified and harnessed through collaborative design research methods.

This task will address the following research questions:

• How can designerly living-lab methods support transdisciplinary research collaboration? What types of knowledge are produced through this type of collaboration? What barriers need to be mitigated?
• How do design methods used within designerly living labs support stakeholders in a transformative process toward sustainable mobility and accessibility?

Content

This task will run in parallel with other research activities to continuously document and reflect upon the design methods used in the research process and the transdisciplinary knowledge production. This will be supported by collecting and reviewing methodological input from design research literature. Furthermore, the task will be carried out as reflections in practice while simultaneously working to improve the overall research program methodology and reflect on changes and adaptations made during the program.

Deliverables

One peer-reviewed journal publication (Q3 2022).

One PhD thesis (Q4 2022) to contribute to widen understandings of living lab typologies and the qualities of different approaches.

Task leader:  Martin Sjöman, KTH