ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to contribute to knowledge on how Urban living labs (ULL) are being designed and operationalised in contemporary urban governance for sustainability. It presents a review of academic publications, policy and grey literature, and current or recently completed research projects on urban governance and living labs in Europe. ULL constitute a mode of governance that promises to deliver valuable outcomes by bringing relevant stakeholders together to address challenges and produce solutions in real world settings. When analysing the insights from the theory and literature, and comparing them with the findings from empirical examples of ULL projects and cases in Europe, five key characteristics of ULL can be identified: geographical embeddedness, experimentation and learning, participation and user involvement, leadership and ownership and evaluation and refinement. ULL often seek to expand their "ecosystem" to broader knowledge sharing networks, such as the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) and the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL).
