Framing urban living lab as a multi-dimensional knowledge model: Experiences from Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Town Wetland Park

Abstract

Urban living labs (ULLs) have an experimental and transformative approach towards urban sustainability. Engaging with existing literature on two fields of research in which ULLs figure prominently, namely environmental governance and sustainability transition, this article rethinks hierarchical and institutional perspectives of ULL knowledge co-production that highlight the upscaling of policy models and institutions to achieve social relevance and efficacy. In contrast, this study highlights individual participants who join the ULL incidentally and voluntarily, as well as their embodied and lived knowledge produced in situ in forms of cognitive and behavioural changes. By unfolding the opinions and actions of visitors and volunteers involved in the Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Town Wetland Park, this article reframes ULLs as multi-dimensional knowledge models consisting of multi-actors and plural forms of knowledge.