Interventions in processes of urban and regional development. Notes on real-world labs of sustainability from a planning science perspective

Abstract

Real-world labs have established themselves as a new type of research, participation and transformation format. This challenges the planning sciences to compare their own methodological tools and evidence-based developments with the new approach. The article introduces the new format and considers its methodological building blocks, i.e. real experiment, action orientation and transdisciplinarity. The contribution will address the wicked problems of complex transformation processes because spatial development deals always with questions of ignorance, contingency and surprises as well as site-specific idiosyncrasies. The mistakes and pitfalls that can be made in process design, actor selection, participation, feedback loops, learning processes and implementation are well described and make it possible today to proceed with considerably less "naivety" in the field of transdisciplinary research and planning, to set participation formats and interventions in a targeted and reflected manner, to use failures for learning and surprises for creative suggestions.