Planting seeds or cultivating change? digging into living labs’ contributions to transformative change

Abstract

Research on transformative change has gained attention as a response to the interconnected and accelerating crises of today, often referred to as a ‘polycrisis’. Transformative change refers to fundamental, system-wide shifts in views, structures, and practices. Despite its urgent need, entrenched systems create significant barriers, making it challenging to translate into action and derive concrete measures. In this study, we employed Living Labs as a practical approach to examining transformative change in real-world contexts. We aimed to assess whether and to what extent Living Labs can facilitate shifts in views, structures, and practices, and identify the barriers and enabling conditions that shape their impact. Using maximum variation sampling, we selected 10 Living Labs and conducted semi-structured interviews with narrative elements. We found that Living Labs fostered shifts in views by encouraging openness, critical reflection, and experiential learning, enabling actors to challenge existing mindsets and recognise their agency in driving change. They enabled shifts in structures by fostering flexible local collaborations, though scaling remained challenging without formal recognition, as bureaucratic inertia and political barriers limited changes in formal governance. Living Labs fostered shifts in practices through experimentation, hands-on learning, and inclusive collaboration, yet regulatory constraints and entrenched power structures often hindered lasting changes. We conclude that while Living Labs provide valuable experimental spaces enabling localised innovation and new forms of collaboration, their ability to drive transformative change remains limited. To exploit their full potential for transformative change, it is crucial to strengthen institutional integration and move beyond short-term and project-based funding.