Titel
Constitutive Tensions of Transformative Research
Infrastructuring Continuity and Contingency in Public Living Labs
Autor*in
Sabine Maasen
Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences / Knowledge Exchange Agency, University of Hamburg
Kevin Weller
Department of Science, Technology and Society (STS), Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Abstract
Living labs and Reallabore are policy attempts to provide infrastructures for societal transformation towards sustainability. They attempt to do so through facilitating experimental modes of societal learning and innovation in inter- and transdisciplinary environments. We suggest that building and maintaining such infrastructures includes simultaneously relying on continuity by following conventions of knowledge production and allowing for contingency as a resource for surprise. Both are necessary, inevitably prompting a “constitutive tension”. Based on a pilot study of two living labs on urban mobility in Austria, we ask how specific labs inscribe continuity and contingency into their infrastructures. Our analysis shows that the living labs attempted to connect to diverse communities, providing a source for contingency. At the same time, however, we observe a tendency to mitigate contingency when the production of outcomes is at risk. Based on the discussion of this exploratory case study, we reflect upon the transformative potential of living labs.
Stichwort
transformationtensionscollaborationinnovationinfrastructure
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:2046445
Erschienen in
Titel
Science & Technology Studies
Band
36
Ausgabe
3
ISSN
2243-4690
Erscheinungsdatum
2023
Publication
Science and Technology Studies
Erscheinungsdatum
2023
Zugänglichkeit
Rechte
Rechteangabe
(c) 2023 Andrea Schikowitz, Sabine Maasen, Kevin Weller
Universität Wien | Universitätsring 1 | 1010 Wien | T
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