SoHoLab, a JPI Urban Europe funded project within the ERA-NET Cofund Smart Urban Futures, is in its final stage and will be hosting three webinars this fall, 13, 20, 27 October 2020, to highlight progresses and results.
Second episode: Urban Living Labs are seen as promising approaches to transform and enlarge urban governance in the context of urban regeneration. Acting as “cross-boundary arenas” (Concilio, 2016), they are able to connect stakeholders and relevant actors at different levels. On the one hand, local inhabitants and organizations can play a crucial role in urban governance. Even though territories such as large-scale social estates are often characterized by high levels of socio-economic fragility, at the same time they represent “local tanks” of competences
and social resources that often tend to remain invisible. On the other hand, institutions have a crucial role in the “public city” and their participation is essential to allow transformation and change. Yet, they have progressively lost their connection with territories and their inhabitants: they need to regain knowledge and understanding of these places and of the possible tools to intervene. Therefore, local and institutional empowerment could be considered as key ingredients for a radically new planning approach for the regeneration of large-scale social estates. Which tools and methods foster the interaction among different “social worlds”? How could we re-frame participation starting from the collaborative dimension of “doing together”? What is the
relevance of co-research and how to promote institutional learning? In this webinar we focus on the potential role of ULL as ‘brokers’, enabling interaction among different actors and more effective collaborations among stakeholders.
Agenda
Introduction (5’)
Pilot project SoHoLab: Elena Maranghi (10’)
Mirror project: Romain Gallart, Appuii (10’)
Keynote lecture: Yvonne Franz, ÖAW (25’)
Debate (30’)
Summary (5’)
Visit http://www.soholab.org/news/soholab-webinars for more information and to register
The SoHoLab project was a 3-year research addressing resident involvement, local knowledge and stakeholder collaboration in the context of the regeneration of large-scale social estates. The project identified Urban Living Labs as potentially innovative approaches to launch open and collaborative processes in the policy context of urban regeneration. Considering multiple failures of so-called ‘participatory approaches’, the SoHolab tried to find out which tools and methods could be applied in order to more effectively open up the policy design and implementation phases for local voices, topics and concerns. By evaluating and developing Living Lab approaches in different contexts, the three research units involved focused on defining research and practice characteristics supporting more participatory regeneration processes. In this webinar series, we want to disseminate the knowledge acquired during three years of research, entering in
dialogue with similar practices, while addressing open questions and venues for further research.