Peter Joore, Anja Overdiek, Wina Smeenk, and Koen van Turnhout
Book launch
How can design researchers effectively deploy the concept of living labs and other experimental learning and innovation environments? This is the subject of the collaborative research programme conducted by Network Applied Design Research (www.nadr.nl), the results of which are published as an open access book by CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Publishers.
Living Labs and other experimental learning and innovation environments, such as field labs and urban innovation labs, are increasingly used to connect multiple stakeholders in envisioning, creating, experimenting, learning, and trying out novel responses to diverse societal challenges. With designers facilitating lab processes and/or testing artefacts together with users, the design discipline plays an important role in these labs. What is the unique contribution that applied design research(ers) may play and make in such learning environments? And how can we deliver on that promise? What are the challenges and dilemmas that applied design researchers may face in their contributions to these environments? The book contributions will discuss these questions navigating the following dilemmas: Open or Closed? Safe-zone or Real-life? Physical or Virtual? Transformation or Evolution? Fixed or Fluid roles? Discipline or Indiscipline? Present versus Future Realities?
In the book, 27 authors reflect on this issue through 13 chapters. The book is divided into three parts.
- Part 1: Tying safe-zones into societal change
- Part 2: Participation is risky: making multi-stakeholder collaboration work
- Part 3: Tangible bites for thought. Prototypes in the multi-stakeholder environment
KEYWORDS: living lab, fieldlab, urban innovation lab, experimental environment, applied design research
Joore, P., Overdiek, A., Smeek, W., & van Turnhout, E. (Eds.). (2024). Applied design research in living labs and other experimental learning and innovation environments. Routledge.
The open access version of this book has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Profiles
Peter Joore, Professor Open Innovation, NHL Stenden University of Applied Scicences, https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterjoore | peter.joore@nhlstenden.com
Anja Overdiek, Professor Cybersocial Design, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, https://www.linkedin.com/in/overdiek12345 | a.overdiek@hr.nl
Wina Smeenk, Professor Societal Impact Design, Inholland University of Applied Sciences, https://www.linkedin.com/in/winasmeenk | Wina.Smeenk@inholland.nl
Koen van Turnhout, Professor Experience & Media Design, Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, https://www.linkedin.com/in/koenvanturnhout | koen.vanturnhout@hu.nl
Acknowledgement
This session is organized by NADR (Network Applied Design Research). NADR (www.nadr.nl) is the Dutch national platform for research groups focused on applied design research. Founded in 2015, NADR is a network of some 30 professors of applied sciences. The unique characteristic of NADR is the collaboration of researchers with various areas of knowledge and application, across sectors. NADR researchers focus on challenges within the healthcare, construction, energy, food and agriculture, retail, hospitality, media, and garment sectors. In all these domains, they deploy applied design research, expecting that this approach can help provide answers to the complex challenges in these sectors. NADR is co-funded by Taskforce SIA, part of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The Open access of the presented book was financed by NWO.
Sketchnote by Anushka Shinde.