Real-world laboratories in theory and practice: Reflection of the research design regarding the sustainable transformation of urban spaces

Abstract

As part of sustainable transformation of municipalities, real-world laboratories have been increasingly used as instruments in research projects since 2015. However, the academic reflection of their implementation has so far been scarce. This paper views real laboratories as a cooperative instrument for the sustainable transformation of urban spaces. It investigates the research question, to what extend real-world laboratories work as a theoretical concept in practice. The paper undertakes a comparative analysis of the projects “Bottrop 2018+”, “KuDeQua” and “ProUrban”, where real-world laboratories present the central methodology. Despite their common theoretical background, the projects show significant differences in the subject matter, spatial scope, practitioners’ involvement, processes and procedures. Through the comparison, opportunities, challenges and possible problems in implementing real-world laboratories are worked out.