Wal, Joost van der (2021) Innovation upscaling and citizen participation: two conflicting elements of the living lab concept? Master thesis.
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Abstract
This master thesis is concerned with citizen participation and innovation upscaling as part of living labs for a transition towards circular road infrastructure. The aim of this research is to find conditions to enable citizens to participate in living labs and to establish conditions to enable innovation upscaling from a living lab. Finding living lab citizen participation conditions is relevant since citizen participation in living labs is constrained by specific barriers. Citizens possess knowledge of their local context, which effectively contributes to the innovation process in living labs. At the same time, upscaling of the innovations created in living labs is crucial to progress in the transition towards circular road infrastructure, but this is also blocked by specific barriers. Citizen participation in living labs creates a focus on the local context, constraining upscaling. To achieve the goal of creating circular road infrastructure by 2030 in the Netherlands, innovations are needed. Living labs are a tool to create these innovations, but citizen participation barriers and upscaling barriers need to be solved. This research is based on literature research and a case study with interviews to answer the following research question: ’What conditions enable citizens to participate in a living lab and are necessary for innovation upscaling to achieve the transition towards circular road infrastructure in the Netherlands?’ This research was conducted in the context of Rijkswaterstaat, with the InnovA58 project as case study. The conducted research illustrates that a variety of conditions for both citizen participation and innovation upscaling need to be implemented. The main citizen participation enabling conditions entail expectation management and transparency about the co-creation possibilities by a living lab initiator, an initiator that allows for feedback and creates true empowerment, and an initiator that shows appreciation and puts effort into understanding community problems. For innovation upscaling, creating an upscaling- and learning strategy is crucial, cross-sectoral collaborations should be established, a diverse group of stakeholders should be involved in the living lab, and room for innovation customization should be reserved. The results show that there is overlap between conditions to enable citizen participation and upscaling. Therefore, the main recommendation is to deploy the conditions simultaneously, since the differing conditions complement each other. Citizen participation in a living lab is not constraining upscaling. Instead, it enables upscaling.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Degree programme: | Environmental & Infrastructure Planning |
| Supervisor: | Leendertse, W.L. |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Aug 2021 14:05 |
| Last Modified: | 03 Aug 2021 14:05 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3620 |
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