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Living labs in the context of the UN sustainable development goals: state of the art

Living labs in the context of the UN sustainable development goals: state of the art This paper reports on a comprehensive study, which has investigated the approaches, methods and tools being deployed in implementing living labs among higher education institutions (HEIs) around the world. Two methods were employed. First, a bibliometric analysis of the current emphasis given to living labs in a sustainable development context and in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Second, an empirical study aimed at identifying the use levels of living labs at HEIs. This was accomplished through an analysis of selected case studies that showcased successful approaches to SDGs implementation with living labs, and resulted in a framework for action. There are three main findings from these analyses. The first is that the multidisciplinary character of living labs in the context of sustainable development needs to be considered, to maximize their impacts. Second, most of the studied living labs focus on SDGs 4 and 11, which deal with providing quality education and ensuring the sustainable development of cities and communities. Third, the chal- lenges encountered in the implementation of living labs refer to (1) the complexities in institutional administration, (2) the tensions between different groups of interest that need to be addressed by enhanced communication, and (3) the necessity to pay attention to the demand of using sustainability and innovation as a strategy in the operations of living labs. The paper draws from the experiences and lessons learned and suggests specific measures, which will improve the use of living labs as more systemic tools towards the implementation of the SDGs. Keywords Innovation · Collaboration · Academic research · Learning opportunities · Institutional sustainability profile Introduction: the ‘living labs’ concept 2003). In 2006, the European Union introduced a definition of this term through the European Network of Living Labs Scholarly studies about ‘living labs’ have emerged in the (ENoLL), which was inclusive of integrating research and past 10 years as a novel strategy for spurring innovation innovation processes in real community settings (https:// opportunities in education for sustainability. The concept enoll.or g/). However, the definition (“variety of local experi- was first explored in 1990 by Bajgier et al. (1991) to describe mental projects of a participatory nature”) proposed by Steen students’ experimental activities in a large city neighbour- and van Bueren (2017a, p. 22) in the urban context remains hood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to assist with problems most valuable to researchers, because it establishes a clear that challenged that community. The concept has further understanding of the possibilities offered by living labs and evolved as an approach to solving complex social crises by demonstrates what can be expected from these. According developing, testing, and refining new technologies (Mitchell to Mulder et al. (2008), living labs should be considered from various perspectives to enable interoperability between setup, sustainability, and scalability. Additional frameworks exist to highlight characteristics of living labs, as shown in Handled by Guido Caniglia, Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, Austria. Table 1. According to Nystrom et al. (2014), living labs can be * Amanda Lange Salvia conceived also as networks of inclusive innovation that are [email protected] shaped by the roles of each participant. Also, living labs are Extended author information available on the last page of the article Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Sustainability Science Table 1 Living labs Living lab characteristics References characteristics from a sample of frameworks, in chronological Users’ involvement Mulder et al. (2008) order Service creation Infrastructure Governance Innovation outcomes Methods tools (include support for new technologies) Geographical embeddedness Voytenko et al. (2016) Experimentation and learning Users’ engagement Leadership–ownership Evaluation Innovation and formal learning Steen and van Bueren (2017a) Development, co-creation and iteration All participants with decision-making power Real-life use context Real-life environments Hossain et al. (2019) Stakeholders’ activities Business models Networks Methods, tools, and approaches Challenges Incremental outcomes Sustainability (smart urban development) Stakeholders/users′ involvement remained a consistent trait of living labs through time grounded in sustainability, crossing diverse fields of knowl- Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have the potential edge and interests. These span innovation, applicable to smart to become effective tools of transformation towards sustain- urban environments, through the promotion of intelligent net- ability through living labs, legitimizing the need for research work technologies (Bakıci et al. 2013; Leal Filho et al. 2022a); studies with such a focus, where these are already established explorations of real-time local settings, that nurture best prac- in higher education settings. In addition, investigations about tices in sustainable development (Nevens et al. 2013); and the methods employed in pursuit of a successful implementa- assessments of their role in transformative change on how tion of the SDGs are urgently needed to fill in this knowledge they can optimize socio-material conditions while ensuring gap. Consistent with these requirements, this paper aimed at agency and allocating resources (Bulkeley et al. 2016). assessing the connections between living labs and sustain- Despite this broad use of the concept, an increasing inter- able development. Our assessment study was accomplished est in living labs perceived as assets to achieve the Sustain- through a two-pronged strategy, which included a bibliometric able Development Goals (SDGs) (United Nations General analysis and an analysis of selected case studies from HEIs Assembly 2015) has been increasing consistently, through around the world. Our findings promote a better understand- the years. The latest studies have focused on how living labs ing of the role of living labs for sustainable development, can contribute to promoting local, urban entrepreneurship while presenting current approaches being employed by some (Rodrigues and Franco 2018) that fosters sustainability, and universities and shedding light on this compelling topic. social and economic development (Leal Filho et al. 2022b; Voytenko et al. 2016). Living labs have gained wide atten- tion in academia also for how universities and their academic Living labs and sustainable development communities become key drivers in transferring knowledge and innovation to society, through citizens’ outreach edu- Universities have the potential to play a key role in sup- cation initiatives (Purcell et al. 2019; Findler et al. 2019; porting the implementation of the SDGs. By working in Stephen et al. 2008). Thus, a living lab can be a powerful partnership with students, employees, stakeholders, and learning and action tool to foster students’ participation in the external community, universities can pursue ingenious projects organized at the community level, while bringing solutions, which can provide economic, social, and environ- together stakeholders with different areas of expertise. This mental benefits for both the university and the community interaction expands opportunities for enhancing knowledge (Purcell et al. 2019; Sroufe 2020). in sustainability through participatory research (Rosenberg Against this background, the setup of living labs as tools to Daneri et al. 2015). support the implementation of the SDGs can be a useful tool. In 1 3 Sustainability Science addition to catering to greater interaction and cooperation among innovation and experimentation, which can then be con- the various actors, living labs may act as a bridge between open verted into solutions for tangible economic, environmental, innovation and the users of these innovations, within a sustain- and social problems. As social behaviour is based on envi- ability context (Compagnucci et al. 2021; Burbridge 2017a, b). ronmental and cultural contexts, living labs can be effective Another characteristic of living labs is that they can contribute supporting tools, fostering knowledge integration, and the to raising awareness of practices aimed at sustainability through formulation of new questions for issues addressing sustain- the development of pilot projects, making the university campus ability (Heilmann and Pundt 2021). become an 'intelligent campus'. This, in turn, ensures that univer- sities become more connected with society, particularly within a sustainability context (Mazutti et al. 2020a, b). Methods: existing approaches to living labs Rowan and Casey (2021) presented the importance of the living lab 'Empower Eco-sustainability HUB', which counts on The aim of this study is to investigate the approaches, the participation of academia, the civil community, companies, methods and tools being deployed in implementing living industries, and policymakers. Green innovations are developed labs among HEIs around the world. Apart from a biblio- within a triple helix context (industry–university–government metric analysis of current emphases given to living labs’ agencies), that seeks to promote the implementation of the approaches to sustainable development for an implementa- European Green Deal, whose aim is to transform Europe into tion of the SDGs, the work entails an empirical study aimed an economically sustainable region (Cerreta et al. 2020). Many at identifying their levels of deployment and introduces a set projects developed within a living labs context allow students of case studies where successful approaches are showcased. to become directly involved in practices aimed at achieving The study encompasses two main research questions: sustainable development. Using living labs-oriented practices, universities can not only engage in consuming resources effi- 1. What is the role of living labs in a sustainability context? ciently but also reduce their carbon footprint (Leal Filho et al. 2. Which living lab approaches are being currently used by 2021), based on learning experiences that include the partici- universities? pation of both internal and external members of the academic community (Amorim et al. 2020). According to Sierra-Pérez The bibliometric review was carried out through a science and López-Forniés (2020), living labs may also focus on fos- mapping approach to review research on experiences related tering the pursuit of the SDGs in urban centres, by tackling to living labs deploying or boosting the SDGs. Hallinger issues related to a circular economy, urban mobility, sustain- and Chatpinyakoop (2019, p. 1) conceded that “research able urban planning, waste management, renewable energies, reviews grounded in bibliometric methods do not examine and sustainable consumption, among others. Also, climate the substantive finds of studies. Rather, their value extends change is among the issues which may be pursuable via a liv- from the capability to document and synthesize broad trends ing labs approach, fostering both adaptation and mitigation that describe the landscape composing and intellectual practices (Leal Filho et al. 2021). structure of a knowledge base”. Thus, the scientific map - By supporting the pursuit of the SDGs in urban centres, ping approach was performed with the aim of illuminating living labs can also contribute towards the following aims trends in knowledge building on the researched topic. The (Voytenko et al. 2016; von Wirth et al. 2019): bibliometric review was performed on the core collection of Web of Science (WoS) on April 2021, using the combina- exploring the political dilemmas that limit innovation in tion of the two following search strings, with English as the cities, publication language, and no restrictions in terms of the type fostering a greater understanding of how to promote of publication and timeframe: sustainable consumption, through stakeholders’ engage- ment, and developing knowledge and tools to maximise "living lab*" AND "sustainable development" = 61 the use of green and blue infrastructure, results • • examining how suburbs can be modernized and socially "living lab*" AND "sustainability" = 215 results uplifted to make them more attractive, sustainable and economically viable, and The combination of the two searches, eliminating dupli- developing guidelines on the means via which living labs cates, resulted in 234 publications. These were screened can be better integrated into formal local government through the reading of the title, abstracts, and keywords to organizations. remove references not related to the specific field of study. In this phase, 18 references were eliminated before perform- So, according to Baran and Berkowicz (2020), living ing the mapping process through the software VOSviewer labs that focus on sustainability can lead to the creation of (Van Eck and Waltman 2010). The bibliometric analysis 1 3 Sustainability Science comprised the investigation of (a) co-occurrences in key- labs and the SDGs.Regarding the time frame of publications words, (b) the most prominent journals, (c) the most active and the use of keywords (Fig. 1a), specific terms such as authors. “technology”, “consumption”, and “science”, illustrated in Based on the available literature, a set of 20 case studies the figure in dark blue circles, are considered consolidated was chosen to illustrate how the living labs approach is being and mature keywords to designate broad studies in the field pursued for the implementation of the SDGs. Besides the of living labs and the SDGs. On the other hand, keywords description of each case and its connection with the SDGs such as “energy” and “urban living labs”, shown in yellow, (Table 4), a framework for action was also designed (Fig. 3). Fig. 1b, are more recently cited in the literature, evidencing This framework represents an additional strategy to pro- the up-to-date use of those keywords in the field. Finally, vide support and deepen the knowledge regarding existing the keywords illustrated in bigger sizes and shades of green approaches to living labs at universities and their contribu- represent items at the intermediate stage of evolution and tion to the 2030 Agenda, and offers some key information adoption as a keyword for the analysed field of study. Thus, about the challenges to be met, and outcomes to be reached, the analysis of the different sizes and colours of the cir - beyond the context of HEIs. cles presented in Fig. 1 provides valuable insights into the dynamics, relevance, and evolution of the living labs and SDGs, studied in the analysed period. Results and discussion (b) The most prominent sources Bibliometric analysis From our sample of 216 publications, 125 sources were found and, of these, five met the minimum thresh- (a) Keyword co-occurrences old of 5 identified documents from the source. Thus, the The co-occurrence map shows the most common five leading sources in publishing documents regarding keywords used in the analysed search and a visual rep- living labs and the SDG are shown in Table  3. The resentation of the network connections of keywords results show three scientific journals and two books. that appear more frequently in the documents ana- The scientific journal that stands out in terms of num- lysed (Cancino et al. 2017, p. 620; Shi et al. 2019). As ber of documents is Sustainability, contributing with explained by Guo et al. (2019), keyword bursts refer to 33 documents, followed by the International Journal those keywords which rise sharply in citations. Burst of Sustainability in Higher Education and the Journal detection is a suitable analytic method to uncover the of Cleaner Production, both with nine documents. keywords that receive particular attention from the related scientific communities in each period. The sample composed of 216 references provided 377 key- The results draw attention to the cross-disciplinary pro- words, from which 32 were selected for meeting the file of the analysed field of study, evidenced by the variety threshold of a minimum of 3 co-occurrences. The key- of sources that publish more articles on living labs and the words co-occurrence network is formed by the group SDGs. The Journal of Cleaner Production stands out as one of references that have at least 3 equal keywords in of the most influential, given the number of citations and its each paper (Su and Lee 2010). Those 32 keywords were Impact Factor. grouped into 4 clusters, as shown in Fig. 1. In the analysed database, the paper by Evans et  al. (2015) published by the journal Sustainability, stood out The first cluster, in red and composed of 11 keywords, is as a prominent referent for having been cited 87 times. The strongly represented by the keyword “innovation”, which work intends to discuss the potential of living labs to pro- has the highest link strength in the cluster (103), occurring vide a holistic and iterative framework for the co-production 38 times in the sampled references. The second cluster, in of knowledge. The living labs initiative was introduced in green, has 10 keywords and is represented by “sustainabil- 2012 to render the University of Manchester campus into ity”, which is the most representative keyword with the high- a place for applied teaching and research activities related est total link strength (95), occurring 37 times. The next to sustainability. This article published by Sustainability cluster, in blue, is represented by the keyword “framework”, also discussed the generalization of living lab projects, which has a total link strength of 44, with 17 occurrences. and the design of HEIs as a living lab, and pointed out the In addition to the visual representation of these results in main strengths and challenges of living labs approaches. Fig. 1a, Table 2 shows the keywords compiled in the sam- Voytenko et  al. (2016), cited 166 times, was another pled references with occurrences greater than or equal to influential reference published by the Journal of Cleaner 10. These are the most used keywords to describe the field Production. In order “to develop current understandings of research formed by the interconnection between living through an examination of how the living labs concept is 1 3 Sustainability Science Fig. 1 Co-keyword network and overlap visualizations of living labs and SDGs. a Co-keyword network visualization of living labs and SDGs, based on occurrences; b co-keyword overlay visualization, based on the score of occurrences and average publication per period being operationalized in contemporary urban governance of the book “Universities as Living Labs for Sustainable for sustainability and low carbon cities”, the authors identi- Development: supporting the implementation of the SDGs”, fied the following five key urban living labs characteristics: by Leal Filho et al. (2020), which assisted in filling the geographical embeddedness, experimentation and learning, knowledge gaps in the field of universities as living labs participation and user involvement, leadership and owner- towards sustainable development, as it documented, in its ship, and evaluation and refinement (Voytenko et al. 2016, 52 chapters, best practices of university experiences from p. 45). Finally, it is worth highlighting the contribution all around the world. 1 3 Sustainability Science Table 2 Most frequent a b a b Ranking Cluster Keyword Occur. TLS Ranking Cluster Keyword Occur. TLS keywords in the field of living labs and the SDGs 1 1 Innovation 38 103 7 2 City 14 46 (co-keywords with occurrences 2 2 Sustainability 37 95 8 1 Technology 13 24 equal to or greater than 3 4 Cities 30 89 9 3 Management 11 32 10) (Note: data from April 2021) 4 2 Governance 19 72 10 1 Politics 11 49 5 3 Framework 17 44 11 1 Design 10 24 6 4 Living labs 17 46 12 2 Transitions 10 43 Occur rences Total link strength Table 3 The most active a b Source title Documents Citations TLS IF sources publishing in the field of living labs and the Journal of Cleaner Production 9 266 29 7.246 SDGs (ranked by number of Sustainability 33 119 28 2.576 citations) (Note: data from April International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 9 110 12 2.000 2021) Universities as Living Labs for Sustainable Development: 15 11 4 – supporting the implementation of the SDGs Towards Green Campus Operations: energy, climate, and 7 6 1 – sustainable development initiatives at universities Total link strength Impact factor (iii) The most active authors Case studies The module of the co-authorship analysis in VOSviewer Examples of living labs can be found in different domains (Van Eck and Waltman 2010) was applied to examine the of knowledge-related areas, from biosphere reserves (Hugé cooperation pattern among the authors. The sample com- et al. 2020), to smart cities planning (Counsell 2017; Kir- prises 747 co-authors and only 54 meet the established wan and Zhiyong 2020; Papadopoulou and Giaoutzi 2017; threshold of a minimum number of documents equal to, or Putra and van der Knaap 2019), urban development (Engez greater than, 2. Figure 2 illustrates the 14 most prominent et al. 2021) and urban environment (Smaniotto Costa et al. authors, divided into four clusters. This citation analysis 2020), and in particular within the scope of HEIs, known shed light on the influential scholars in producing knowl- for their promotion of education and actions in sustainable edge in the field of living labs related to the SDGs. In development (Leal Filho and Surroop 2018; Mazutti et al. Fig.  2, lines among authors represent their cooperation 2020a, b; Sroufe 2020). The multi-disciplinarity and multi- links, while the different colours represent the four clusters dimensionality of education and research regarding global identified in the analysis.These results indicate that the issues (O'Neill 2003; Shao et al. 2011) have long been pur- most productive author is Frantzeskaki Niki, a Professor sued by HEIs. With the onset of the SDGs, the need for such at the Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, an approach has amplified, making the living labs concept Australia. She works in the field of urban sustainability, become more urgent for HEIs as setting a medium for multi- has seven documents in the sample of references, and has disciplinarity and multi-dimensionality. In this respect, liv- a total link strength of 21 (Bulkeley et al. 2019; von Wirth ing labs differ among HEIs, as these are used as testbeds and et al. 2019). This author is followed by Yuliya Voytenko university stakeholders are regarded as test subjects (Engels Palgan, from the International Institute for Industrial et al. 2019). Environmental Economics (IIIEE), at Lund University, Accordingly, the key aspects to be addressed in this Sweden, and Timo von Wirth who is an Assistant Profes- subsection aim to illustrate a wide range of living labs at sor at Erasmus School of Social & Behavioural Sciences, HEIs and their importance for achieving the SDGs, with a Netherlands. Both have five documents cited in the sample selection of 20 case studies that exemplify how living labs and research the field of urban living labs (Bulkeley et al. in HEIs may contribute to successfully foster overall sus- 2016, 2019; Menny et al. 2018; von Wirth et al. 2019). tainable development worldwide. Table 4 presents 20 case 1 3 Sustainability Science Fig. 2 Authors' cooperation network studies addressing living labs within HEIs that illustrate and practice, promoting collaboration between students, achievements towards specific SDGs. These efforts focused researchers, and the community in resolving regional chal- on HEIs which draw on both top-down and bottom-up strat- lenges (Emery et al. 2020). egies to accomplish transformative institutional changes Several initiatives have been fostering the energy and cli- (Purcell et al. 2019). While most efforts developed by HEIs mate goals (SDGs 7 and 13). In Germany, the Hamburg and in applying the concept of living labs on their campuses Stuttgart Universities of Applied Sciences have dedicated involve the commitment to energy initiatives (SDG7), cli- examples of engagement with the academic community and mate change (SDG13), or quality education (SDG4), the promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency, with addressed case studies presented in Table 4 are committed demonstration and transferable character (Botero et al. 2017; to several SDGs, to a greater or lesser extent, as presented Leal Filho and Surroop 2018). Similarly, the living lab LAB and discussed below. LOW3 at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia fosters The cases of Plymouth University, American University teaching and research activities in solar architecture, as well in Bulgaria, Macalester College and the University of Tas- as in building simulations and scientific field assessment mania can be highlighted. Whereas at Plymouth University (UPC, n.d.). The Sustainable Energy Campus at the Univer- the focus is on the engagement of students with the wider sity of Lisbon promotes the use of smart resources to reduce civic and business communities (Plymouth 2019; Purcell electricity consumption and to promote socially responsible et al. 2019), at Macalester College the living lab approach actions (Ferrão and de Matos 2017). The University of Brit- involves partnering with key participants and with indus- ish Columbia (Save et al. 2021; UBC, n.d.) and the Chatham try for a joint engagement in wider sustainability efforts, University Eden Hall Campus (Walker and Mendler 2017) thus moving beyond the individual class paradigm and operate with wider scopes. The former works as a living lab incorporating projects into classes (Hansen 2017). At the with its academic campuses and integrated residential neigh- American University in Bulgaria (Purcell et  al. 2019), bourhoods to test innovative solutions, expand a bioenergy the experience leads to business value creation and to the facility, and contribute to several local policies (e.g., the promotion of societal impact, including environmental 20-year Sustainability Strategy, the Climate Action Plan, and protection and restoration. On the other hand, the efforts the Green Building Action Plan), whereas the latter is the made through the centre of expertise Education for Sus- first university campus designed to demonstrate sustainable tainability Tasmania (EfSTas) represent an experimental solutions and train students while engaging with the local test bed to explore new models of sustainability principles community. 1 3 Sustainability Science 1 3 Table 4 Selection of case studies on living labs at HEIs Case University Country Short description Addressed SDGs References 1 Hamburg University of Germany Experimenting with renewable energy on a campus: Set-up of the “Energy Leal Filho and Surroop (2018) Applied Sciences Campus” at HAW Hamburg, where research and deployment of renewable energy techniques and methods are pursued and demonstrated 2 Plymouth University United King- Sustainability as a lens through the university’s teaching, research, opera- Purcell et al. (2019) dom tions, and community service: mission-led transformation based on the Plymouth (2019) concept of enterprise and sustainability as key to institutional health over the long term, committing to transforming lives through education and research 3 American University in Bulgaria Reframe sustainability as a strategic agenda, aligning business goals with Purcell et al. (2019) Bulgaria the SDG Framework: Stakeholder partnership of businesses with the University, creating a “living lab” to explore creative solutions involv- ing deep knowledge and experience of whole organizational change and sustainability 4 Harvard University USA Sustainability plan around a holistic vision and clear university-wide goals Purcell et al. (2019) from emissions and energy, campus operations, nature and ecosystems, Harvard (n.d.) health and well-being, and culture and learning: Innovation to address problems threatening the health of people and planet, working on the ground and across disciplines, co-funding projects and acting as a convener and connector as well as adviser, trainer, mentor, and coach to those involved in shared projects 5 Stuttgart University of Germany Transdisciplinary research methods to find transferable solutions for the Botero et al. (2017) Applied Sciences transition to a climate-neutral inner-city campus—Ensign Lab: develop- ment of an iterative, optimization-based, knowledge capture process that is inclusive of both external and internal stakeholders 6 Macalester College USA Living laboratory program through teaching classes, working with environ- Hansen (2017) mental studies faculty, and assisting faculty in incorporating projects into existing classes 7 University of Lisbon Portugal Sustainable Energy Campus: A Challenge on Smart Facilities and Opera- Ferrão and de Matos (2017) tions—Sustainable Campus at Técnico project was set in motion to improve the overall energy efficiency within the Instituto Superior Técnico facilities, through new auditing tools and thermal computational models of all campus buildings 8 Chatham University USA Creating a Sustainable Campus from the Ground up First new university Walker and Mendler (2017) Eden Hall Campus campus in the world to be built sustainably from the ground up, featuring full cycle water recycling, net positive energy production, and zero waste operations in an immersive living and learning environment for residential students Sustainability Science 1 3 Table 4 (continued) Case University Country Short description Addressed SDGs References 9 University of British Canada Campus as a Living Lab (CLL) Program to Promote Sustainable Practices: Save et al. (2021) Columbia Use of a Campus as a Living Lab to marry industry, campus operations, UBC (n.d.) and research to drive innovative solutions aiming for major district energy upgrade and a bioenergy facility 10 Polytechnic University Spain Living Labs in Architecture as Innovation Arenas within higher education Masseck (2017) of Catalonia institutions: prototype solar house designed, built, converted, and operated as a Living Lab for sustainable architecture and lifestyle, research regard- ing pluridisciplinary, experience-based sustainability education 11 University of Man- United King- Living labs and co-production: university campuses as platforms for sustain- Evans et.al. (2015) chester dom ability science: Generation of living lab projects, the design of the campus as a living lab, and institutional visibility, identifying the key strengths of the living lab approach and the challenges of applying it more broadly 12 University of Cape South Africa Integrating environmental sustainability issues into the curriculum through McGibbon and Van Belle (2015) Town problem-based and project-based learning: Curriculum development regarding Carbon Footprinting—into the Information Systems undergradu- ate curriculum, embedding Green IS theory and practice in the campus 13 Misr International Egypt Going green in architectural education: An urban living lab experiment for Dabaieh et al. (2017) University a graduation green design studio in Saint Catherine: In an experimental design studio case, the students develop a range of skills and techniques for new adaptive and responsive climatic architecture approaches on test cell models in a living lab environment 14 University of Technol- Australia Wealth from Waste Living Lab: the UTS Wealth from Waste Living Lab is UTS (n.d.) ogy Sydney an interdisciplinary design lab for third-year design students who receive practice-based learning experiences in designing ways to increase food capture rates and reduce contamination rates 15 University of Tasmania Australia Education for Sustainability Tasmania (EfSTas): EfSTas is a United Nations Emery et al. (2020) University Recognised Regional Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development to advance Tasmania as an interconnected and diverse sustainable island state that can adapt and respond to environmen- tal, economic, social, and cultural challenges 16 Universiti Sains Malaysia The EcoHub is a previously abandoned green space preserved by Univer- USM (n.d) Malaysia siti Sains Malaysia as a living lab, being home to much unique flora and fauna that can hardly be found elsewhere. It aims at becoming the “nature repository” for storing information regarding the campus’s ecological sur- roundings, and preserving exotic flora and fauna. Students, lecturers, and researchers develop research on the flora and fauna found in EcoHub and the findings can be useful to other researchers Sustainability Science 1 3 Table 4 (continued) Case University Country Short description Addressed SDGs References 17 KTH Royal Institute of Sweden KTH Live-In Lab: the platform for accelerating innovation in the built KTH Live-In Lab (2018) Technology environment: KTH Live-In Lab offers a full-scale test environment ranging from buildings and installations to housing and management organizations. Research and testing can be carried out in real buildings, enabling studies on the future's resource-efficient and sustainable student housing 18 Universitat Politècnica Spain LIVING LAB LOW3: Laboratory for energy efficiency, sustainable build- UPC (n.d.) de Catalunya ing, and renewable energies: Energy Self-sufficient Solar House (LOW3) is a Living Lab at UPC, promoting bioclimatic strategies, and renewable energy systems, and low impact construction concepts experimentation and evaluation. The equipment contains a 4.0 kWp solar photovoltaic installa- tion, facade integrated solar thermal collectors, low energy climate system and sensors to control several parameters, such as temperature, humidity, and CO2 concentration 19 Maastricht University Netherlands Smart City Living Lab (Smarter Labs): tests and upscaling through smart Smarter Labs (n.d.) mobility experiments in four cities: Bellinzona, Brussels, Graz, and Maas- tricht: At Maastricht University, the Smarter Labs project is coordinated by the International Centre for Integrated assessment and Sustainable develop- ment. It consists of a series of initiatives (most notably a series of focus group meetings and a web-based design tool) that engage key stakehold- ers in co-designing the renovation of the central station area, addressing sustainability challenges (e.g., mobility, energy) by making optimal use of innovative, smart solutions 20 Maastricht University Netherlands Living Lab in Ageing and Long-Term Care: Researchers collaborate with Verbeek et al. (2020) end-users (e.g., older persons and their families, professionals, health care Maastricht University (2018) directors, and policy-makers). The interdisciplinary partnership using a team science approach and the use of Linking Pins (scientific and practice- based) are important characteristics of this living lab Sustainability Science Fig. 3 Framework for action in living labs, with key features transforming challenges into outcomes The cases of Polytechnic University of Catalonia Sydney (UTS, n.d.) contributes to the goal of sustainable (Masseck 2017), University of Manchester (Evans et  al. consumption, especially using innovative communication 2015) and KTH Royal Institute of Technology (KTH Live- tools, new bins, and events to further educate its aca- In Lab 2018) were all classified as contributors to educa- demic community. Regarding biodiversity, the EcoHub tion and resources of sustainable cities and communities of University Sains Malaysia (USM, n.d.) is expected to (SDGs 4 and 11). The connection with these goals occurs become an advanced living lab in the country, as well as mainly through using new learning methodologies, tools, one of the sustainability-based tourism spots in Penang. and concepts to promote sustainable architecture, by engag- In addition to research that can be carried out at the hub, ing students in applied challenges and co-production, and by students support the labelling of plants so that visitors fostering associations with companies for enterprise-based can learn about native species, thus contributing to envi- education. ronmental education. Other examples of living labs directly cover the inter- Based on the above-presented cases, it can then be relation between education and climate action (SDG 13). stated that the SDGs can only be achieved worldwide For example, at Harvard University (Harvard, n.d.; Purcell through a participatory approach from the community et al. 2019), the entire academic community is encouraged to (Leal Filho et al. 2022c, d, e). According to Compagnucci experiment with sustainable solutions, involving innovation, et al. (2021), living labs can promote long-term partner- climate issues, and student grants. At the University of Cape ships between stakeholders, thus contributing to success- Town (McGibbon and Van Belle 2015), the curriculum sup- ful partnerships and to SDG 17 in particular (Leal Filho ports the development of key competencies around sustain- et al. 2022c). Living labs play an important role within ability, carbon footprint, and real-world problems. Sustain- HEIs relevant partnerships, as they ensure that institutions able architecture is also a highlight in the living lab of Misr are able to engage in the sustainability agenda through International University (Dabaieh et al. 2017), by promot- different approaches, from teaching and research to indus- ing educational developments and green design. A different try, driving innovative solutions and enhancing collabora- example of a living lab is available in Europe (Smarter Labs, tion between all those involved, i.e., teachers (Bürgener n.d.), from a consortium of universities with complemen- and Barth 2018), researchers, stakeholders and the com- tary knowledge distributed in four cities, i.e., Bellinzona, munity (Hossain et al. 2019). Engaging users is key to a Brussels, Graz, and Maastricht, committed to implementing successful living lab (Compagnucci et al. 2021; Hossain smart mobility concepts and involving not only the academic et al. 2019), and changing habits based on environmental community but also companies and interested stakeholders. concern is a strong motivational factor, particularly for Additional goals covered by the case studies sample the younger generation, a privileged target group (Pie- of living labs were SDGs 3, 12, and 15. With a focus on trapertosa et al. 2021), as seen in the Fridays For Future aging and long-term care, the Maastricht Living Lab and movement, started in 2018. This is also relevant in the Health Care (Maastricht University 2018; Verbeek et al. context of HEIs, where positive actions are not limited to 2020) contribute to improving the quality of life for vul- universities and users can disseminate knowledge beyond nerable, older people. By exploring design strategies that the campus borders (Mazutti et al. 2020a, b). support waste management, the University of Technology 1 3 Sustainability Science As highlighted by Purcell et al. (2019), a strategic sus- beyond HEIs. The challenges experienced by living labs tainability movement carried out within HEIs context may and the expected outcomes, particularly when applying represent a major challenge for university leaders. Trans- the set of key features observed in both the literature and formation requires time and the engagement of all while the case studies, are beneficial for their gradual improve- maintaining sustainability as a keystone construct for the ment and the development of their planned activities. They education and management of institutional operations can also support, directly or indirectly, the 2030 Agenda. and decision-making. This is particularly important when The goal is that progress can be achieved in all aspects considering specific SDGs, not restricted to geographical addressed within the 17 SDGs, fostering environmental, barriers, such as SDG1 or SDG13. Within the context of social, and economic development, while overcoming sus- HEIs, living labs are part of the transformative challenge tainability challenges. at the global level, resulting in significant changes at the Because there is some disagreement between theory organizational and societal level, due to sustainable devel- and practice, it is necessary to support the need for further opment projects underway. It could be argued that living investment in this respect, translated in clear measurable labs can offer universities a more central role in society, quantification towards sustainability achievements. Opera - as illustrated through the case studies in Table 4, as their tionally, an assessment tool aiming to structure the inno- impacts become more visible and transversal (Burbridge vation process in living labs, such as the SDG-Check pro- 2017a, b), through flexible and adaptable sustainable posed by von Geibler et al. (2019), may be helpful. It could development models and approaches. contribute to structuring the innovation process in the early stages of sustainability, with specific targets to address. Challenges and outcomes of living labs Living labs are open, user-centered innovation ecosys- Conclusions and future prospects tems, based on a systematic approach to co-creating users, integrating research and innovation processes in real-life Being considered a multidisciplinary phenomenon encom- communities and environments (Compagnucci et al. 2021; passing different domains of knowledge, the living labs ENoLL 2021; Fischer et al. 2021). So, living labs operate concept may include partnerships among heterogeneous as intermediaries between citizens, research organizations, stakeholders and apply different tools and approaches. It is companies, cities, and regions (Leal Filho et al. 2022d) clear that a living-labs based innovation, within the context for joint value co-creation, prototyping, or validation to of real-world sustainability challenges, is only possible when expand innovation, as a business (ENoLL 2021). These collaboration is based on agreement and trust. units offer the opportunity to re-establish meaningful con- This study contributes to the discussion on the role of nections between people and ecosystems, aiming for social- HEIs as promising settings in the creation of living labs that ecological restoration actions (Fischer et al. 2021). can foster the implementation of the SDGs. There are some These benefits and opportunities are not without chal- conclusions which can be drawn from it. The first derives lenges. Living labs are difficult to organise and the coor - from the bibliometric analysis of the current academic dination requires additional time and resources (Steen research on articles related to living labs set-ups or contrib- and Van Bueren 2017b). In addition to these limitations, uting to the implementation of the SDGs. The results of the living lab projects might also face challenges associated scientific mapping approach pointed out that keywords like with power issues between actors and end-user reluctance “innovation”, “sustainability”, “cities” and “governance” to engage (Hakkarainen and Hyysalo 2013). Monitoring have a higher occurrence in the sample of research articles the works is another usual challenge—to make sure valu- used, and described the interconnections between living labs able and inefficient approaches are identified, as well as and the SDGs. More recent articles have focused on research to facilitate replication and upscaling in different settings related to “energy” and “urban living labs”, as opposed to (Van Geenhuizen 2018). older articles that mostly discussed issues related to “tech- The case studies presented in Table 4 in the previous nology” and “consumption”. Also, the results of the biblio- subsection are illustrative to show how it is possible to metric analysis stressed the multidisciplinary character of successfully implement living labs in the context of sus- living labs in the context of sustainable development, given tainable development at HEIs. However, there is a limit the variety of sources that publish articles on this subject. to what can be achieved outside the scope of HEIs. Based The second conclusion relates to the 20 case studies of on the key ideas presented in Table 4 and on the literature living labs organized in higher education settings, which search and bibliometric results collected, Fig. 3 presents combined and showcased successful approaches deployed to a framework for action with important key aspects to be better support the achievement of the SDGs. By this token, addressed in the implementation of living labs worldwide, our study offers a clear view of the impact of living labs in 1 3 Sustainability Science institutions of higher education as an intermediary between society and in the global process of transitioning towards a heterogeneous stakeholders involved at the local level. Most more sustainable world. living labs that have been analysed in this study focus on Living labs are profiling as new learning trends that can SDGs 4 and 11, which deal with providing quality education facilitate the attempts of students and researchers to have a and ensuring sustainable development of cities and com- more active role in their communities, while using, experi- munities. Furthermore, the topic of climate action by means menting and testing knowledge, as it is being produced. In of SDG 13 is also amongst the main items that are being this circular participation process, living labs become a vehi- tackled, also fostering partnerships between stakeholders. cle for active and challenge-based learning. For these rea- Thirdly, based on the bibliometric results and the case sons, living labs should be further explored as powerful tools studies analysed, the paper provides important insights on for an education capable of fostering the transition towards aspects which need to be addressed in a future framework sustainable practices. In this sense, additional research is that fosters the development of living labs beyond higher needed to identify successful factors for implementation and education settings. The challenges encountered in the imple- operationalisation of living labs that can be implemented mentation of living labs refer to cross-campus. At the same time, as we are moving from education for sustainability to education as sustainability, (1) the high level of administration, we should also start envisioning not only living labs as tools (2) the tensions between different groups of interest that for the university, but rather the university as a living lab. need to be rendered by enhanced communication, and Future studies could focus on establishing a method to (3) fostering sustainability and innovation as the main strat- better quantify how sustainable living labs are, when com- egy of the living labs activity. pared to the tackled SDG indicators. Furthermore, the scope of this analysis could be broadened to include primary and On the other end of the spectrum, the ability to create secondary education settings, and seek the perspectives of living labs that prioritise the implementation of SDGs needs teaching staff. to be based on premises like (1) promoting multidiscipli- Acknowledgements This paper is part of the “100 papers to acceler- nary approaches and open communication, (2) increasing ate the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals” learning opportunities for different groups, (3) focusing on initiative. developing an institutional sustainability profile, (4) engag- Funding Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt ing stakeholders from different areas of expertise. DEAL. The key features that emerged from this paper may prove to be beneficial to the success of a living lab deployment, Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attri- regardless of the setting. It can also foster directly or indi- bution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adapta- tion, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long rectly the UN 2030 Agenda, by focusing on innovation and as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, sustainable development. Living labs, especially those cre- provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes ated with a focus on implementing the SDGs, could encom- were made. The images or other third party material in this article are pass various research domains from real-life environments, included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in with the aim of transforming valuable knowledge into mod- the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not els, theories, and approaches. They are seen as valuable to permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will the community in general and specific stakeholders in par - need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a ticular, because of the opportunities they bring through the copy of this licence, visit http://cr eativ ecommons. or g/licen ses/ b y/4.0/ . experiments, feedback received, and high know-how spillo- vers that are generated in other areas of activity and that can tackle sustainable development on economic, environmental, References and social grounds. Throughout this study, it is possible to substantiate that Bajgier SM, Maragah HD, Saccucci MS, Verzilli A, Prybutok VR (1991) Introducing students to community operations research living labs can be an effective tool for HEIs in playing an by using a city neighborhood as a living laboratory. Oper Res active role in the transition and transformation towards more 39:701–709 sustainable environments. 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Space 36(7):1280–1298 Authors and Affiliations 1,2 3 4 5,6,7 Walter Leal Filho  · Pinar Gokcin Ozuyar  · Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis  · Anabela Marisa Azul  · 8 9 2,10 11 María Garcia Alvarez  · Samara da Silva Neiva  · Amanda Lange Salvia  · Bruno Borsari  · 12 13,14 Andreea Danila  · Claudio Ruy Vasconcelos Walter Leal Filho European School of Sustainability Science and Research, [email protected] Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany Pinar Gokcin Ozuyar [email protected] Department of Business Administration, Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, Turkey Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis [email protected] UFP Energy, Environment and Health Research Unit (FP-ENAS), University Fernando Pessoa (UFP), Praça 9 de Anabela Marisa Azul Abril 349, 4249-004 Porto, Portugal [email protected] Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC), University María Garcia Alvarez of Coimbra, 3004-504 Coimbra, Portugal [email protected] Center for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology Samara da Silva Neiva (CIBB), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal [email protected] Institute for Interdisciplinary Research (IIIUC), University Bruno Borsari of Coimbra, 3030-789 Coimbra, Portugal [email protected] Global Project and Change Management, Faculty Andreea Danila Windesheim Honours College, Windesheim University [email protected] of Applied Sciences, 8017 CA Zwolle, The Netherlands Claudio Ruy Vasconcelos Graduate Program in University Management, Federal [email protected] University of Santa Catarina, Campus I-Roberto Sampaio Gonzaga, 274, Florianopolis 88040-380, Brazil Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street, Manchester M1 5GD, UK 1 3 Sustainability Science Graduate Program in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Administration and Business, Stefan cel Mare University University of Passo Fundo, Campus I-BR 285, Passo Fundo, of Suceava, 720229 Suceava, Romania RS 99052-900, Brazil Department of Production Engineering, Federal University Department of Biology, Winona State University, Winona, of Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil MN 55987, USA Algoritmi Research Centre, School of Engineering, Department of Economics, Economic Informatics University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal and Business Administration, Faculty of Economics, 1 3 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Sustainability Science Springer Journals

Living labs in the context of the UN sustainable development goals: state of the art

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Abstract

This paper reports on a comprehensive study, which has investigated the approaches, methods and tools being deployed in implementing living labs among higher education institutions (HEIs) around the world. Two methods were employed. First, a bibliometric analysis of the current emphasis given to living labs in a sustainable development context and in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Second, an empirical study aimed at identifying the use levels of living labs at HEIs. This was accomplished through an analysis of selected case studies that showcased successful approaches to SDGs implementation with living labs, and resulted in a framework for action. There are three main findings from these analyses. The first is that the multidisciplinary character of living labs in the context of sustainable development needs to be considered, to maximize their impacts. Second, most of the studied living labs focus on SDGs 4 and 11, which deal with providing quality education and ensuring the sustainable development of cities and communities. Third, the chal- lenges encountered in the implementation of living labs refer to (1) the complexities in institutional administration, (2) the tensions between different groups of interest that need to be addressed by enhanced communication, and (3) the necessity to pay attention to the demand of using sustainability and innovation as a strategy in the operations of living labs. The paper draws from the experiences and lessons learned and suggests specific measures, which will improve the use of living labs as more systemic tools towards the implementation of the SDGs. Keywords Innovation · Collaboration · Academic research · Learning opportunities · Institutional sustainability profile Introduction: the ‘living labs’ concept 2003). In 2006, the European Union introduced a definition of this term through the European Network of Living Labs Scholarly studies about ‘living labs’ have emerged in the (ENoLL), which was inclusive of integrating research and past 10 years as a novel strategy for spurring innovation innovation processes in real community settings (https:// opportunities in education for sustainability. The concept enoll.or g/). However, the definition (“variety of local experi- was first explored in 1990 by Bajgier et al. (1991) to describe mental projects of a participatory nature”) proposed by Steen students’ experimental activities in a large city neighbour- and van Bueren (2017a, p. 22) in the urban context remains hood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to assist with problems most valuable to researchers, because it establishes a clear that challenged that community. The concept has further understanding of the possibilities offered by living labs and evolved as an approach to solving complex social crises by demonstrates what can be expected from these. According developing, testing, and refining new technologies (Mitchell to Mulder et al. (2008), living labs should be considered from various perspectives to enable interoperability between setup, sustainability, and scalability. Additional frameworks exist to highlight characteristics of living labs, as shown in Handled by Guido Caniglia, Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, Austria. Table 1. According to Nystrom et al. (2014), living labs can be * Amanda Lange Salvia conceived also as networks of inclusive innovation that are [email protected] shaped by the roles of each participant. Also, living labs are Extended author information available on the last page of the article Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Sustainability Science Table 1 Living labs Living lab characteristics References characteristics from a sample of frameworks, in chronological Users’ involvement Mulder et al. (2008) order Service creation Infrastructure Governance Innovation outcomes Methods tools (include support for new technologies) Geographical embeddedness Voytenko et al. (2016) Experimentation and learning Users’ engagement Leadership–ownership Evaluation Innovation and formal learning Steen and van Bueren (2017a) Development, co-creation and iteration All participants with decision-making power Real-life use context Real-life environments Hossain et al. (2019) Stakeholders’ activities Business models Networks Methods, tools, and approaches Challenges Incremental outcomes Sustainability (smart urban development) Stakeholders/users′ involvement remained a consistent trait of living labs through time grounded in sustainability, crossing diverse fields of knowl- Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have the potential edge and interests. These span innovation, applicable to smart to become effective tools of transformation towards sustain- urban environments, through the promotion of intelligent net- ability through living labs, legitimizing the need for research work technologies (Bakıci et al. 2013; Leal Filho et al. 2022a); studies with such a focus, where these are already established explorations of real-time local settings, that nurture best prac- in higher education settings. In addition, investigations about tices in sustainable development (Nevens et al. 2013); and the methods employed in pursuit of a successful implementa- assessments of their role in transformative change on how tion of the SDGs are urgently needed to fill in this knowledge they can optimize socio-material conditions while ensuring gap. Consistent with these requirements, this paper aimed at agency and allocating resources (Bulkeley et al. 2016). assessing the connections between living labs and sustain- Despite this broad use of the concept, an increasing inter- able development. Our assessment study was accomplished est in living labs perceived as assets to achieve the Sustain- through a two-pronged strategy, which included a bibliometric able Development Goals (SDGs) (United Nations General analysis and an analysis of selected case studies from HEIs Assembly 2015) has been increasing consistently, through around the world. Our findings promote a better understand- the years. The latest studies have focused on how living labs ing of the role of living labs for sustainable development, can contribute to promoting local, urban entrepreneurship while presenting current approaches being employed by some (Rodrigues and Franco 2018) that fosters sustainability, and universities and shedding light on this compelling topic. social and economic development (Leal Filho et al. 2022b; Voytenko et al. 2016). Living labs have gained wide atten- tion in academia also for how universities and their academic Living labs and sustainable development communities become key drivers in transferring knowledge and innovation to society, through citizens’ outreach edu- Universities have the potential to play a key role in sup- cation initiatives (Purcell et al. 2019; Findler et al. 2019; porting the implementation of the SDGs. By working in Stephen et al. 2008). Thus, a living lab can be a powerful partnership with students, employees, stakeholders, and learning and action tool to foster students’ participation in the external community, universities can pursue ingenious projects organized at the community level, while bringing solutions, which can provide economic, social, and environ- together stakeholders with different areas of expertise. This mental benefits for both the university and the community interaction expands opportunities for enhancing knowledge (Purcell et al. 2019; Sroufe 2020). in sustainability through participatory research (Rosenberg Against this background, the setup of living labs as tools to Daneri et al. 2015). support the implementation of the SDGs can be a useful tool. In 1 3 Sustainability Science addition to catering to greater interaction and cooperation among innovation and experimentation, which can then be con- the various actors, living labs may act as a bridge between open verted into solutions for tangible economic, environmental, innovation and the users of these innovations, within a sustain- and social problems. As social behaviour is based on envi- ability context (Compagnucci et al. 2021; Burbridge 2017a, b). ronmental and cultural contexts, living labs can be effective Another characteristic of living labs is that they can contribute supporting tools, fostering knowledge integration, and the to raising awareness of practices aimed at sustainability through formulation of new questions for issues addressing sustain- the development of pilot projects, making the university campus ability (Heilmann and Pundt 2021). become an 'intelligent campus'. This, in turn, ensures that univer- sities become more connected with society, particularly within a sustainability context (Mazutti et al. 2020a, b). Methods: existing approaches to living labs Rowan and Casey (2021) presented the importance of the living lab 'Empower Eco-sustainability HUB', which counts on The aim of this study is to investigate the approaches, the participation of academia, the civil community, companies, methods and tools being deployed in implementing living industries, and policymakers. Green innovations are developed labs among HEIs around the world. Apart from a biblio- within a triple helix context (industry–university–government metric analysis of current emphases given to living labs’ agencies), that seeks to promote the implementation of the approaches to sustainable development for an implementa- European Green Deal, whose aim is to transform Europe into tion of the SDGs, the work entails an empirical study aimed an economically sustainable region (Cerreta et al. 2020). Many at identifying their levels of deployment and introduces a set projects developed within a living labs context allow students of case studies where successful approaches are showcased. to become directly involved in practices aimed at achieving The study encompasses two main research questions: sustainable development. Using living labs-oriented practices, universities can not only engage in consuming resources effi- 1. What is the role of living labs in a sustainability context? ciently but also reduce their carbon footprint (Leal Filho et al. 2. Which living lab approaches are being currently used by 2021), based on learning experiences that include the partici- universities? pation of both internal and external members of the academic community (Amorim et al. 2020). According to Sierra-Pérez The bibliometric review was carried out through a science and López-Forniés (2020), living labs may also focus on fos- mapping approach to review research on experiences related tering the pursuit of the SDGs in urban centres, by tackling to living labs deploying or boosting the SDGs. Hallinger issues related to a circular economy, urban mobility, sustain- and Chatpinyakoop (2019, p. 1) conceded that “research able urban planning, waste management, renewable energies, reviews grounded in bibliometric methods do not examine and sustainable consumption, among others. Also, climate the substantive finds of studies. Rather, their value extends change is among the issues which may be pursuable via a liv- from the capability to document and synthesize broad trends ing labs approach, fostering both adaptation and mitigation that describe the landscape composing and intellectual practices (Leal Filho et al. 2021). structure of a knowledge base”. Thus, the scientific map - By supporting the pursuit of the SDGs in urban centres, ping approach was performed with the aim of illuminating living labs can also contribute towards the following aims trends in knowledge building on the researched topic. The (Voytenko et al. 2016; von Wirth et al. 2019): bibliometric review was performed on the core collection of Web of Science (WoS) on April 2021, using the combina- exploring the political dilemmas that limit innovation in tion of the two following search strings, with English as the cities, publication language, and no restrictions in terms of the type fostering a greater understanding of how to promote of publication and timeframe: sustainable consumption, through stakeholders’ engage- ment, and developing knowledge and tools to maximise "living lab*" AND "sustainable development" = 61 the use of green and blue infrastructure, results • • examining how suburbs can be modernized and socially "living lab*" AND "sustainability" = 215 results uplifted to make them more attractive, sustainable and economically viable, and The combination of the two searches, eliminating dupli- developing guidelines on the means via which living labs cates, resulted in 234 publications. These were screened can be better integrated into formal local government through the reading of the title, abstracts, and keywords to organizations. remove references not related to the specific field of study. In this phase, 18 references were eliminated before perform- So, according to Baran and Berkowicz (2020), living ing the mapping process through the software VOSviewer labs that focus on sustainability can lead to the creation of (Van Eck and Waltman 2010). The bibliometric analysis 1 3 Sustainability Science comprised the investigation of (a) co-occurrences in key- labs and the SDGs.Regarding the time frame of publications words, (b) the most prominent journals, (c) the most active and the use of keywords (Fig. 1a), specific terms such as authors. “technology”, “consumption”, and “science”, illustrated in Based on the available literature, a set of 20 case studies the figure in dark blue circles, are considered consolidated was chosen to illustrate how the living labs approach is being and mature keywords to designate broad studies in the field pursued for the implementation of the SDGs. Besides the of living labs and the SDGs. On the other hand, keywords description of each case and its connection with the SDGs such as “energy” and “urban living labs”, shown in yellow, (Table 4), a framework for action was also designed (Fig. 3). Fig. 1b, are more recently cited in the literature, evidencing This framework represents an additional strategy to pro- the up-to-date use of those keywords in the field. Finally, vide support and deepen the knowledge regarding existing the keywords illustrated in bigger sizes and shades of green approaches to living labs at universities and their contribu- represent items at the intermediate stage of evolution and tion to the 2030 Agenda, and offers some key information adoption as a keyword for the analysed field of study. Thus, about the challenges to be met, and outcomes to be reached, the analysis of the different sizes and colours of the cir - beyond the context of HEIs. cles presented in Fig. 1 provides valuable insights into the dynamics, relevance, and evolution of the living labs and SDGs, studied in the analysed period. Results and discussion (b) The most prominent sources Bibliometric analysis From our sample of 216 publications, 125 sources were found and, of these, five met the minimum thresh- (a) Keyword co-occurrences old of 5 identified documents from the source. Thus, the The co-occurrence map shows the most common five leading sources in publishing documents regarding keywords used in the analysed search and a visual rep- living labs and the SDG are shown in Table  3. The resentation of the network connections of keywords results show three scientific journals and two books. that appear more frequently in the documents ana- The scientific journal that stands out in terms of num- lysed (Cancino et al. 2017, p. 620; Shi et al. 2019). As ber of documents is Sustainability, contributing with explained by Guo et al. (2019), keyword bursts refer to 33 documents, followed by the International Journal those keywords which rise sharply in citations. Burst of Sustainability in Higher Education and the Journal detection is a suitable analytic method to uncover the of Cleaner Production, both with nine documents. keywords that receive particular attention from the related scientific communities in each period. The sample composed of 216 references provided 377 key- The results draw attention to the cross-disciplinary pro- words, from which 32 were selected for meeting the file of the analysed field of study, evidenced by the variety threshold of a minimum of 3 co-occurrences. The key- of sources that publish more articles on living labs and the words co-occurrence network is formed by the group SDGs. The Journal of Cleaner Production stands out as one of references that have at least 3 equal keywords in of the most influential, given the number of citations and its each paper (Su and Lee 2010). Those 32 keywords were Impact Factor. grouped into 4 clusters, as shown in Fig. 1. In the analysed database, the paper by Evans et  al. (2015) published by the journal Sustainability, stood out The first cluster, in red and composed of 11 keywords, is as a prominent referent for having been cited 87 times. The strongly represented by the keyword “innovation”, which work intends to discuss the potential of living labs to pro- has the highest link strength in the cluster (103), occurring vide a holistic and iterative framework for the co-production 38 times in the sampled references. The second cluster, in of knowledge. The living labs initiative was introduced in green, has 10 keywords and is represented by “sustainabil- 2012 to render the University of Manchester campus into ity”, which is the most representative keyword with the high- a place for applied teaching and research activities related est total link strength (95), occurring 37 times. The next to sustainability. This article published by Sustainability cluster, in blue, is represented by the keyword “framework”, also discussed the generalization of living lab projects, which has a total link strength of 44, with 17 occurrences. and the design of HEIs as a living lab, and pointed out the In addition to the visual representation of these results in main strengths and challenges of living labs approaches. Fig. 1a, Table 2 shows the keywords compiled in the sam- Voytenko et  al. (2016), cited 166 times, was another pled references with occurrences greater than or equal to influential reference published by the Journal of Cleaner 10. These are the most used keywords to describe the field Production. In order “to develop current understandings of research formed by the interconnection between living through an examination of how the living labs concept is 1 3 Sustainability Science Fig. 1 Co-keyword network and overlap visualizations of living labs and SDGs. a Co-keyword network visualization of living labs and SDGs, based on occurrences; b co-keyword overlay visualization, based on the score of occurrences and average publication per period being operationalized in contemporary urban governance of the book “Universities as Living Labs for Sustainable for sustainability and low carbon cities”, the authors identi- Development: supporting the implementation of the SDGs”, fied the following five key urban living labs characteristics: by Leal Filho et al. (2020), which assisted in filling the geographical embeddedness, experimentation and learning, knowledge gaps in the field of universities as living labs participation and user involvement, leadership and owner- towards sustainable development, as it documented, in its ship, and evaluation and refinement (Voytenko et al. 2016, 52 chapters, best practices of university experiences from p. 45). Finally, it is worth highlighting the contribution all around the world. 1 3 Sustainability Science Table 2 Most frequent a b a b Ranking Cluster Keyword Occur. TLS Ranking Cluster Keyword Occur. TLS keywords in the field of living labs and the SDGs 1 1 Innovation 38 103 7 2 City 14 46 (co-keywords with occurrences 2 2 Sustainability 37 95 8 1 Technology 13 24 equal to or greater than 3 4 Cities 30 89 9 3 Management 11 32 10) (Note: data from April 2021) 4 2 Governance 19 72 10 1 Politics 11 49 5 3 Framework 17 44 11 1 Design 10 24 6 4 Living labs 17 46 12 2 Transitions 10 43 Occur rences Total link strength Table 3 The most active a b Source title Documents Citations TLS IF sources publishing in the field of living labs and the Journal of Cleaner Production 9 266 29 7.246 SDGs (ranked by number of Sustainability 33 119 28 2.576 citations) (Note: data from April International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 9 110 12 2.000 2021) Universities as Living Labs for Sustainable Development: 15 11 4 – supporting the implementation of the SDGs Towards Green Campus Operations: energy, climate, and 7 6 1 – sustainable development initiatives at universities Total link strength Impact factor (iii) The most active authors Case studies The module of the co-authorship analysis in VOSviewer Examples of living labs can be found in different domains (Van Eck and Waltman 2010) was applied to examine the of knowledge-related areas, from biosphere reserves (Hugé cooperation pattern among the authors. The sample com- et al. 2020), to smart cities planning (Counsell 2017; Kir- prises 747 co-authors and only 54 meet the established wan and Zhiyong 2020; Papadopoulou and Giaoutzi 2017; threshold of a minimum number of documents equal to, or Putra and van der Knaap 2019), urban development (Engez greater than, 2. Figure 2 illustrates the 14 most prominent et al. 2021) and urban environment (Smaniotto Costa et al. authors, divided into four clusters. This citation analysis 2020), and in particular within the scope of HEIs, known shed light on the influential scholars in producing knowl- for their promotion of education and actions in sustainable edge in the field of living labs related to the SDGs. In development (Leal Filho and Surroop 2018; Mazutti et al. Fig.  2, lines among authors represent their cooperation 2020a, b; Sroufe 2020). The multi-disciplinarity and multi- links, while the different colours represent the four clusters dimensionality of education and research regarding global identified in the analysis.These results indicate that the issues (O'Neill 2003; Shao et al. 2011) have long been pur- most productive author is Frantzeskaki Niki, a Professor sued by HEIs. With the onset of the SDGs, the need for such at the Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, an approach has amplified, making the living labs concept Australia. She works in the field of urban sustainability, become more urgent for HEIs as setting a medium for multi- has seven documents in the sample of references, and has disciplinarity and multi-dimensionality. In this respect, liv- a total link strength of 21 (Bulkeley et al. 2019; von Wirth ing labs differ among HEIs, as these are used as testbeds and et al. 2019). This author is followed by Yuliya Voytenko university stakeholders are regarded as test subjects (Engels Palgan, from the International Institute for Industrial et al. 2019). Environmental Economics (IIIEE), at Lund University, Accordingly, the key aspects to be addressed in this Sweden, and Timo von Wirth who is an Assistant Profes- subsection aim to illustrate a wide range of living labs at sor at Erasmus School of Social & Behavioural Sciences, HEIs and their importance for achieving the SDGs, with a Netherlands. Both have five documents cited in the sample selection of 20 case studies that exemplify how living labs and research the field of urban living labs (Bulkeley et al. in HEIs may contribute to successfully foster overall sus- 2016, 2019; Menny et al. 2018; von Wirth et al. 2019). tainable development worldwide. Table 4 presents 20 case 1 3 Sustainability Science Fig. 2 Authors' cooperation network studies addressing living labs within HEIs that illustrate and practice, promoting collaboration between students, achievements towards specific SDGs. These efforts focused researchers, and the community in resolving regional chal- on HEIs which draw on both top-down and bottom-up strat- lenges (Emery et al. 2020). egies to accomplish transformative institutional changes Several initiatives have been fostering the energy and cli- (Purcell et al. 2019). While most efforts developed by HEIs mate goals (SDGs 7 and 13). In Germany, the Hamburg and in applying the concept of living labs on their campuses Stuttgart Universities of Applied Sciences have dedicated involve the commitment to energy initiatives (SDG7), cli- examples of engagement with the academic community and mate change (SDG13), or quality education (SDG4), the promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency, with addressed case studies presented in Table 4 are committed demonstration and transferable character (Botero et al. 2017; to several SDGs, to a greater or lesser extent, as presented Leal Filho and Surroop 2018). Similarly, the living lab LAB and discussed below. LOW3 at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia fosters The cases of Plymouth University, American University teaching and research activities in solar architecture, as well in Bulgaria, Macalester College and the University of Tas- as in building simulations and scientific field assessment mania can be highlighted. Whereas at Plymouth University (UPC, n.d.). The Sustainable Energy Campus at the Univer- the focus is on the engagement of students with the wider sity of Lisbon promotes the use of smart resources to reduce civic and business communities (Plymouth 2019; Purcell electricity consumption and to promote socially responsible et al. 2019), at Macalester College the living lab approach actions (Ferrão and de Matos 2017). The University of Brit- involves partnering with key participants and with indus- ish Columbia (Save et al. 2021; UBC, n.d.) and the Chatham try for a joint engagement in wider sustainability efforts, University Eden Hall Campus (Walker and Mendler 2017) thus moving beyond the individual class paradigm and operate with wider scopes. The former works as a living lab incorporating projects into classes (Hansen 2017). At the with its academic campuses and integrated residential neigh- American University in Bulgaria (Purcell et  al. 2019), bourhoods to test innovative solutions, expand a bioenergy the experience leads to business value creation and to the facility, and contribute to several local policies (e.g., the promotion of societal impact, including environmental 20-year Sustainability Strategy, the Climate Action Plan, and protection and restoration. On the other hand, the efforts the Green Building Action Plan), whereas the latter is the made through the centre of expertise Education for Sus- first university campus designed to demonstrate sustainable tainability Tasmania (EfSTas) represent an experimental solutions and train students while engaging with the local test bed to explore new models of sustainability principles community. 1 3 Sustainability Science 1 3 Table 4 Selection of case studies on living labs at HEIs Case University Country Short description Addressed SDGs References 1 Hamburg University of Germany Experimenting with renewable energy on a campus: Set-up of the “Energy Leal Filho and Surroop (2018) Applied Sciences Campus” at HAW Hamburg, where research and deployment of renewable energy techniques and methods are pursued and demonstrated 2 Plymouth University United King- Sustainability as a lens through the university’s teaching, research, opera- Purcell et al. (2019) dom tions, and community service: mission-led transformation based on the Plymouth (2019) concept of enterprise and sustainability as key to institutional health over the long term, committing to transforming lives through education and research 3 American University in Bulgaria Reframe sustainability as a strategic agenda, aligning business goals with Purcell et al. (2019) Bulgaria the SDG Framework: Stakeholder partnership of businesses with the University, creating a “living lab” to explore creative solutions involv- ing deep knowledge and experience of whole organizational change and sustainability 4 Harvard University USA Sustainability plan around a holistic vision and clear university-wide goals Purcell et al. (2019) from emissions and energy, campus operations, nature and ecosystems, Harvard (n.d.) health and well-being, and culture and learning: Innovation to address problems threatening the health of people and planet, working on the ground and across disciplines, co-funding projects and acting as a convener and connector as well as adviser, trainer, mentor, and coach to those involved in shared projects 5 Stuttgart University of Germany Transdisciplinary research methods to find transferable solutions for the Botero et al. (2017) Applied Sciences transition to a climate-neutral inner-city campus—Ensign Lab: develop- ment of an iterative, optimization-based, knowledge capture process that is inclusive of both external and internal stakeholders 6 Macalester College USA Living laboratory program through teaching classes, working with environ- Hansen (2017) mental studies faculty, and assisting faculty in incorporating projects into existing classes 7 University of Lisbon Portugal Sustainable Energy Campus: A Challenge on Smart Facilities and Opera- Ferrão and de Matos (2017) tions—Sustainable Campus at Técnico project was set in motion to improve the overall energy efficiency within the Instituto Superior Técnico facilities, through new auditing tools and thermal computational models of all campus buildings 8 Chatham University USA Creating a Sustainable Campus from the Ground up First new university Walker and Mendler (2017) Eden Hall Campus campus in the world to be built sustainably from the ground up, featuring full cycle water recycling, net positive energy production, and zero waste operations in an immersive living and learning environment for residential students Sustainability Science 1 3 Table 4 (continued) Case University Country Short description Addressed SDGs References 9 University of British Canada Campus as a Living Lab (CLL) Program to Promote Sustainable Practices: Save et al. (2021) Columbia Use of a Campus as a Living Lab to marry industry, campus operations, UBC (n.d.) and research to drive innovative solutions aiming for major district energy upgrade and a bioenergy facility 10 Polytechnic University Spain Living Labs in Architecture as Innovation Arenas within higher education Masseck (2017) of Catalonia institutions: prototype solar house designed, built, converted, and operated as a Living Lab for sustainable architecture and lifestyle, research regard- ing pluridisciplinary, experience-based sustainability education 11 University of Man- United King- Living labs and co-production: university campuses as platforms for sustain- Evans et.al. (2015) chester dom ability science: Generation of living lab projects, the design of the campus as a living lab, and institutional visibility, identifying the key strengths of the living lab approach and the challenges of applying it more broadly 12 University of Cape South Africa Integrating environmental sustainability issues into the curriculum through McGibbon and Van Belle (2015) Town problem-based and project-based learning: Curriculum development regarding Carbon Footprinting—into the Information Systems undergradu- ate curriculum, embedding Green IS theory and practice in the campus 13 Misr International Egypt Going green in architectural education: An urban living lab experiment for Dabaieh et al. (2017) University a graduation green design studio in Saint Catherine: In an experimental design studio case, the students develop a range of skills and techniques for new adaptive and responsive climatic architecture approaches on test cell models in a living lab environment 14 University of Technol- Australia Wealth from Waste Living Lab: the UTS Wealth from Waste Living Lab is UTS (n.d.) ogy Sydney an interdisciplinary design lab for third-year design students who receive practice-based learning experiences in designing ways to increase food capture rates and reduce contamination rates 15 University of Tasmania Australia Education for Sustainability Tasmania (EfSTas): EfSTas is a United Nations Emery et al. (2020) University Recognised Regional Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development to advance Tasmania as an interconnected and diverse sustainable island state that can adapt and respond to environmen- tal, economic, social, and cultural challenges 16 Universiti Sains Malaysia The EcoHub is a previously abandoned green space preserved by Univer- USM (n.d) Malaysia siti Sains Malaysia as a living lab, being home to much unique flora and fauna that can hardly be found elsewhere. It aims at becoming the “nature repository” for storing information regarding the campus’s ecological sur- roundings, and preserving exotic flora and fauna. Students, lecturers, and researchers develop research on the flora and fauna found in EcoHub and the findings can be useful to other researchers Sustainability Science 1 3 Table 4 (continued) Case University Country Short description Addressed SDGs References 17 KTH Royal Institute of Sweden KTH Live-In Lab: the platform for accelerating innovation in the built KTH Live-In Lab (2018) Technology environment: KTH Live-In Lab offers a full-scale test environment ranging from buildings and installations to housing and management organizations. Research and testing can be carried out in real buildings, enabling studies on the future's resource-efficient and sustainable student housing 18 Universitat Politècnica Spain LIVING LAB LOW3: Laboratory for energy efficiency, sustainable build- UPC (n.d.) de Catalunya ing, and renewable energies: Energy Self-sufficient Solar House (LOW3) is a Living Lab at UPC, promoting bioclimatic strategies, and renewable energy systems, and low impact construction concepts experimentation and evaluation. The equipment contains a 4.0 kWp solar photovoltaic installa- tion, facade integrated solar thermal collectors, low energy climate system and sensors to control several parameters, such as temperature, humidity, and CO2 concentration 19 Maastricht University Netherlands Smart City Living Lab (Smarter Labs): tests and upscaling through smart Smarter Labs (n.d.) mobility experiments in four cities: Bellinzona, Brussels, Graz, and Maas- tricht: At Maastricht University, the Smarter Labs project is coordinated by the International Centre for Integrated assessment and Sustainable develop- ment. It consists of a series of initiatives (most notably a series of focus group meetings and a web-based design tool) that engage key stakehold- ers in co-designing the renovation of the central station area, addressing sustainability challenges (e.g., mobility, energy) by making optimal use of innovative, smart solutions 20 Maastricht University Netherlands Living Lab in Ageing and Long-Term Care: Researchers collaborate with Verbeek et al. (2020) end-users (e.g., older persons and their families, professionals, health care Maastricht University (2018) directors, and policy-makers). The interdisciplinary partnership using a team science approach and the use of Linking Pins (scientific and practice- based) are important characteristics of this living lab Sustainability Science Fig. 3 Framework for action in living labs, with key features transforming challenges into outcomes The cases of Polytechnic University of Catalonia Sydney (UTS, n.d.) contributes to the goal of sustainable (Masseck 2017), University of Manchester (Evans et  al. consumption, especially using innovative communication 2015) and KTH Royal Institute of Technology (KTH Live- tools, new bins, and events to further educate its aca- In Lab 2018) were all classified as contributors to educa- demic community. Regarding biodiversity, the EcoHub tion and resources of sustainable cities and communities of University Sains Malaysia (USM, n.d.) is expected to (SDGs 4 and 11). The connection with these goals occurs become an advanced living lab in the country, as well as mainly through using new learning methodologies, tools, one of the sustainability-based tourism spots in Penang. and concepts to promote sustainable architecture, by engag- In addition to research that can be carried out at the hub, ing students in applied challenges and co-production, and by students support the labelling of plants so that visitors fostering associations with companies for enterprise-based can learn about native species, thus contributing to envi- education. ronmental education. Other examples of living labs directly cover the inter- Based on the above-presented cases, it can then be relation between education and climate action (SDG 13). stated that the SDGs can only be achieved worldwide For example, at Harvard University (Harvard, n.d.; Purcell through a participatory approach from the community et al. 2019), the entire academic community is encouraged to (Leal Filho et al. 2022c, d, e). According to Compagnucci experiment with sustainable solutions, involving innovation, et al. (2021), living labs can promote long-term partner- climate issues, and student grants. At the University of Cape ships between stakeholders, thus contributing to success- Town (McGibbon and Van Belle 2015), the curriculum sup- ful partnerships and to SDG 17 in particular (Leal Filho ports the development of key competencies around sustain- et al. 2022c). Living labs play an important role within ability, carbon footprint, and real-world problems. Sustain- HEIs relevant partnerships, as they ensure that institutions able architecture is also a highlight in the living lab of Misr are able to engage in the sustainability agenda through International University (Dabaieh et al. 2017), by promot- different approaches, from teaching and research to indus- ing educational developments and green design. A different try, driving innovative solutions and enhancing collabora- example of a living lab is available in Europe (Smarter Labs, tion between all those involved, i.e., teachers (Bürgener n.d.), from a consortium of universities with complemen- and Barth 2018), researchers, stakeholders and the com- tary knowledge distributed in four cities, i.e., Bellinzona, munity (Hossain et al. 2019). Engaging users is key to a Brussels, Graz, and Maastricht, committed to implementing successful living lab (Compagnucci et al. 2021; Hossain smart mobility concepts and involving not only the academic et al. 2019), and changing habits based on environmental community but also companies and interested stakeholders. concern is a strong motivational factor, particularly for Additional goals covered by the case studies sample the younger generation, a privileged target group (Pie- of living labs were SDGs 3, 12, and 15. With a focus on trapertosa et al. 2021), as seen in the Fridays For Future aging and long-term care, the Maastricht Living Lab and movement, started in 2018. This is also relevant in the Health Care (Maastricht University 2018; Verbeek et al. context of HEIs, where positive actions are not limited to 2020) contribute to improving the quality of life for vul- universities and users can disseminate knowledge beyond nerable, older people. By exploring design strategies that the campus borders (Mazutti et al. 2020a, b). support waste management, the University of Technology 1 3 Sustainability Science As highlighted by Purcell et al. (2019), a strategic sus- beyond HEIs. The challenges experienced by living labs tainability movement carried out within HEIs context may and the expected outcomes, particularly when applying represent a major challenge for university leaders. Trans- the set of key features observed in both the literature and formation requires time and the engagement of all while the case studies, are beneficial for their gradual improve- maintaining sustainability as a keystone construct for the ment and the development of their planned activities. They education and management of institutional operations can also support, directly or indirectly, the 2030 Agenda. and decision-making. This is particularly important when The goal is that progress can be achieved in all aspects considering specific SDGs, not restricted to geographical addressed within the 17 SDGs, fostering environmental, barriers, such as SDG1 or SDG13. Within the context of social, and economic development, while overcoming sus- HEIs, living labs are part of the transformative challenge tainability challenges. at the global level, resulting in significant changes at the Because there is some disagreement between theory organizational and societal level, due to sustainable devel- and practice, it is necessary to support the need for further opment projects underway. It could be argued that living investment in this respect, translated in clear measurable labs can offer universities a more central role in society, quantification towards sustainability achievements. Opera - as illustrated through the case studies in Table 4, as their tionally, an assessment tool aiming to structure the inno- impacts become more visible and transversal (Burbridge vation process in living labs, such as the SDG-Check pro- 2017a, b), through flexible and adaptable sustainable posed by von Geibler et al. (2019), may be helpful. It could development models and approaches. contribute to structuring the innovation process in the early stages of sustainability, with specific targets to address. Challenges and outcomes of living labs Living labs are open, user-centered innovation ecosys- Conclusions and future prospects tems, based on a systematic approach to co-creating users, integrating research and innovation processes in real-life Being considered a multidisciplinary phenomenon encom- communities and environments (Compagnucci et al. 2021; passing different domains of knowledge, the living labs ENoLL 2021; Fischer et al. 2021). So, living labs operate concept may include partnerships among heterogeneous as intermediaries between citizens, research organizations, stakeholders and apply different tools and approaches. It is companies, cities, and regions (Leal Filho et al. 2022d) clear that a living-labs based innovation, within the context for joint value co-creation, prototyping, or validation to of real-world sustainability challenges, is only possible when expand innovation, as a business (ENoLL 2021). These collaboration is based on agreement and trust. units offer the opportunity to re-establish meaningful con- This study contributes to the discussion on the role of nections between people and ecosystems, aiming for social- HEIs as promising settings in the creation of living labs that ecological restoration actions (Fischer et al. 2021). can foster the implementation of the SDGs. There are some These benefits and opportunities are not without chal- conclusions which can be drawn from it. The first derives lenges. Living labs are difficult to organise and the coor - from the bibliometric analysis of the current academic dination requires additional time and resources (Steen research on articles related to living labs set-ups or contrib- and Van Bueren 2017b). In addition to these limitations, uting to the implementation of the SDGs. The results of the living lab projects might also face challenges associated scientific mapping approach pointed out that keywords like with power issues between actors and end-user reluctance “innovation”, “sustainability”, “cities” and “governance” to engage (Hakkarainen and Hyysalo 2013). Monitoring have a higher occurrence in the sample of research articles the works is another usual challenge—to make sure valu- used, and described the interconnections between living labs able and inefficient approaches are identified, as well as and the SDGs. More recent articles have focused on research to facilitate replication and upscaling in different settings related to “energy” and “urban living labs”, as opposed to (Van Geenhuizen 2018). older articles that mostly discussed issues related to “tech- The case studies presented in Table 4 in the previous nology” and “consumption”. Also, the results of the biblio- subsection are illustrative to show how it is possible to metric analysis stressed the multidisciplinary character of successfully implement living labs in the context of sus- living labs in the context of sustainable development, given tainable development at HEIs. However, there is a limit the variety of sources that publish articles on this subject. to what can be achieved outside the scope of HEIs. Based The second conclusion relates to the 20 case studies of on the key ideas presented in Table 4 and on the literature living labs organized in higher education settings, which search and bibliometric results collected, Fig. 3 presents combined and showcased successful approaches deployed to a framework for action with important key aspects to be better support the achievement of the SDGs. By this token, addressed in the implementation of living labs worldwide, our study offers a clear view of the impact of living labs in 1 3 Sustainability Science institutions of higher education as an intermediary between society and in the global process of transitioning towards a heterogeneous stakeholders involved at the local level. Most more sustainable world. living labs that have been analysed in this study focus on Living labs are profiling as new learning trends that can SDGs 4 and 11, which deal with providing quality education facilitate the attempts of students and researchers to have a and ensuring sustainable development of cities and com- more active role in their communities, while using, experi- munities. Furthermore, the topic of climate action by means menting and testing knowledge, as it is being produced. In of SDG 13 is also amongst the main items that are being this circular participation process, living labs become a vehi- tackled, also fostering partnerships between stakeholders. cle for active and challenge-based learning. For these rea- Thirdly, based on the bibliometric results and the case sons, living labs should be further explored as powerful tools studies analysed, the paper provides important insights on for an education capable of fostering the transition towards aspects which need to be addressed in a future framework sustainable practices. In this sense, additional research is that fosters the development of living labs beyond higher needed to identify successful factors for implementation and education settings. The challenges encountered in the imple- operationalisation of living labs that can be implemented mentation of living labs refer to cross-campus. At the same time, as we are moving from education for sustainability to education as sustainability, (1) the high level of administration, we should also start envisioning not only living labs as tools (2) the tensions between different groups of interest that for the university, but rather the university as a living lab. need to be rendered by enhanced communication, and Future studies could focus on establishing a method to (3) fostering sustainability and innovation as the main strat- better quantify how sustainable living labs are, when com- egy of the living labs activity. pared to the tackled SDG indicators. Furthermore, the scope of this analysis could be broadened to include primary and On the other end of the spectrum, the ability to create secondary education settings, and seek the perspectives of living labs that prioritise the implementation of SDGs needs teaching staff. to be based on premises like (1) promoting multidiscipli- Acknowledgements This paper is part of the “100 papers to acceler- nary approaches and open communication, (2) increasing ate the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals” learning opportunities for different groups, (3) focusing on initiative. developing an institutional sustainability profile, (4) engag- Funding Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt ing stakeholders from different areas of expertise. DEAL. The key features that emerged from this paper may prove to be beneficial to the success of a living lab deployment, Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attri- regardless of the setting. It can also foster directly or indi- bution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adapta- tion, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long rectly the UN 2030 Agenda, by focusing on innovation and as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, sustainable development. Living labs, especially those cre- provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes ated with a focus on implementing the SDGs, could encom- were made. The images or other third party material in this article are pass various research domains from real-life environments, included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in with the aim of transforming valuable knowledge into mod- the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not els, theories, and approaches. They are seen as valuable to permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will the community in general and specific stakeholders in par - need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a ticular, because of the opportunities they bring through the copy of this licence, visit http://cr eativ ecommons. or g/licen ses/ b y/4.0/ . experiments, feedback received, and high know-how spillo- vers that are generated in other areas of activity and that can tackle sustainable development on economic, environmental, References and social grounds. Throughout this study, it is possible to substantiate that Bajgier SM, Maragah HD, Saccucci MS, Verzilli A, Prybutok VR (1991) Introducing students to community operations research living labs can be an effective tool for HEIs in playing an by using a city neighborhood as a living laboratory. Oper Res active role in the transition and transformation towards more 39:701–709 sustainable environments. 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Space 36(7):1280–1298 Authors and Affiliations 1,2 3 4 5,6,7 Walter Leal Filho  · Pinar Gokcin Ozuyar  · Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis  · Anabela Marisa Azul  · 8 9 2,10 11 María Garcia Alvarez  · Samara da Silva Neiva  · Amanda Lange Salvia  · Bruno Borsari  · 12 13,14 Andreea Danila  · Claudio Ruy Vasconcelos Walter Leal Filho European School of Sustainability Science and Research, [email protected] Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany Pinar Gokcin Ozuyar [email protected] Department of Business Administration, Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, Turkey Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis [email protected] UFP Energy, Environment and Health Research Unit (FP-ENAS), University Fernando Pessoa (UFP), Praça 9 de Anabela Marisa Azul Abril 349, 4249-004 Porto, Portugal [email protected] Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC), University María Garcia Alvarez of Coimbra, 3004-504 Coimbra, Portugal [email protected] Center for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology Samara da Silva Neiva (CIBB), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal [email protected] Institute for Interdisciplinary Research (IIIUC), University Bruno Borsari of Coimbra, 3030-789 Coimbra, Portugal [email protected] Global Project and Change Management, Faculty Andreea Danila Windesheim Honours College, Windesheim University [email protected] of Applied Sciences, 8017 CA Zwolle, The Netherlands Claudio Ruy Vasconcelos Graduate Program in University Management, Federal [email protected] University of Santa Catarina, Campus I-Roberto Sampaio Gonzaga, 274, Florianopolis 88040-380, Brazil Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street, Manchester M1 5GD, UK 1 3 Sustainability Science Graduate Program in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Administration and Business, Stefan cel Mare University University of Passo Fundo, Campus I-BR 285, Passo Fundo, of Suceava, 720229 Suceava, Romania RS 99052-900, Brazil Department of Production Engineering, Federal University Department of Biology, Winona State University, Winona, of Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil MN 55987, USA Algoritmi Research Centre, School of Engineering, Department of Economics, Economic Informatics University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal and Business Administration, Faculty of Economics, 1 3

Journal

Sustainability Science – Springer Journals

Published: May 1, 2023

Keywords: Innovation; Collaboration; Academic research; Learning opportunities; Institutional sustainability profile

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