Slides from Damian Maye's Seminar - Using Living Labs to Strengthen Rural-Urban Linkages - Reflections from a multi-actor research project Footage available at: https://youtu.be/Es1VHe69Mcw

1. ROBUST receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 727988.
Using the living lab method
to strengthen rural-urban
linkages: reflections from a
multi-actor research project
Damian Maye
Countryside and Community Research Institute
University of Gloucestershire
CCRI Seminar, 29th September 2022

2. Today’s seminar:
1. A ‘living lab way of working’: origins, contexts, principles
2. ROBUST and the ‘4Es framework for living lab co-innovation’
3. From theory to practice: examples, processes, outcomes
4. Co-innovation pathways, radical innovation?
5. Lessons for future multi-actor working

3. The living lab concept
• Historical origin: user-driven ICT systems development
• No uniform definition: partnerships; demonstrations
• “[A]n arena (i.e. geographically or institutionally bounded
spaces), and as an approach for intentional collaborative
experimentation of researchers, citizens, companies and
local governments” (Voytenko et al., 2016: 46)
• Urban living labs: a form of collective urban governance
and experimentation
• Not just technology-focused; social innovations
(consumption, behaviour, lifestyle); ethics, justice & equity
(community-led research & underrepresented groups)

4. A living lab way of working: defining principles
Voytenko et al. (2016):
• Geographical embeddedness
• Experimentation and learning
• Participation and user involvement
• Leadership and ownership
• Evaluation and refinement

5. The ROBUST project; experimental governance
to strengthen rural-urban linkages
The overall goal of ROBUST:
a) advance our understanding of the interactions and dependencies
between rural, peri-urban and urban areas, and
b) identify and promote policies, governance models and practices that
foster mutually beneficial relations
• Experimentation to vision future systems and create governance solutions to
strengthen rural-urban linkages (cf., Sabel and Zeitlin, 2011; Fitzgerald, 2020)
• Apply the ‘living lab’ approach (co-innovation (research & practice partners) to
develop & experiment with governance solutions in place)
• In combination with five Communities of Practice: Sustainable Food Systems; Ecosystem
Services; New Business Models & Labour Markets; Public Infrastructures & Social Services;
Cultural Connections

6. Living labs

8. The 4Es framework for living lab co-innovation:
Envisioning
Experimenting
• Experimental
governance
Experiencing &
Analysing
Research method: Living Lab methodology
Evaluating,
Monitoring
&
Reflecting
Innovative
rural-urban
governance
arrangements
Project timeline

9. 1. Envisioning
Multi-methods toolkit:
• List of methods; summary sheet per method
• The methods were not prescriptive or definitive
• Different techniques to foster joint learning
Research and Innovation Agenda:
• Co-developed per lab by research practice teams
• Each team developed a motto for their lab
• Envisioning to establish a focus / agree priorities
• It didn’t always work that way!
• RIA evolved as the work progressed

10. Tool / Method Envisioning Experimenting Experiencing Evaluating
Stakeholder Mapping X
Material Flow Analysis X X
Participatory GIS Mapping X
Competency Groups X X
Participant Observation X X
Shadowing & placements X X
Participatory Scenario Building X X
Role-playing X X X
Evaluation Questionnaires X X
Webinar/on-line forums X X X X
Systemic Evidence Review X
Storywall X
Social Network Analysis X X
Joint Visioning X X
Foresight Analysis X X
Scenario Building X X
Concept Mapping X
Systems Mapping X
Pairing researchers & policy makers X X
Appreciative Inquiry X X X
Story Telling X
Focus Groups X X
Charrette X X X
Expert Interview X

11. Research and Innovation Agenda

12. Methods and activities per living lab stage (examples)

13. 2. Experimenting
Living lab Experiment CoP(s) Rural-urban linkages Knowledge inputs /
outputs
Outcomes
Ede I Circular farming/
enriching
agriculture
Sustainable
food, ESS,
New BMs
Circular economy, new
markets (regional ESS
delivery)
Workshop and
interview data
Inform rural spatial
planning draft (part of
New Environment and
Planning Act)
Frankfurt
RM I
Inner/outer
space: growth
scenarios
ESS Data on added value of
rural spatial function,
enviro tipping points
Cataloguing ESS
functions
Revision of regional
spatial planning
procedures
Frankfurt
RM II
Infrastructure
needs for pop’n
growth
PISS, BM&LM Regional teleworking
opportunities for rural
residents
Data on rural-urban
functions in relation
to teleworking
Inform post-COVID-19
regional policy re.
supporting teleworking
Glos. I Dynamic
procurement
Sustainable
food
Rural farmers supply
urban school meals
Producer contract /
supply–readiness
Glos. joins SW Food Hub
trial and GCC adopts DPS
Glos. II Natural Flood
Management
ESS Upstream rural
catchment management
reduces downstream
urban flood risk
Combining regional
good practice,
knowledge and flood
risk science
New NFM sub-group
initiated as part of Severn
and Wye RFCC
Glos. III Circular business
models
BM&LM Water, food waste and
construction – ID of
rural-urban CBM links
Compendium of
existing CBMs
produced by GCC
Adoption of CBM
recommendations in LIS &
Climate Change strategy

14. 2. Experimenting
• Prioritisation of experiments over time
• Types of experiment / innovation project:
• New data and knowledge generation
• Strategic visioning and futuring
• Testing and deliberating novel policy implementation
• Co-producing good practice examples
• Co-developing concrete practical tools
• Labs provided a space for dialogue
• Covid-19 impacted work programmes; adaptations were needed –
‘experimentation by proxy’ in Mid Wales and other labs, for example

15. 3. Experiencing: r-u governance innovation

16. 4. Evaluating

17. 4. Evaluating
• Longitudinal analysis: LL goals; nature of research-practice collaboration
• Improving governance arrangements and planning instruments to better
connect rural & urban areas (mixed)
• Enhancing cooperation and fostering synergies across sectors (only two
managed significant progress)
• Partners’ perception of overall benefit from participation in ROBUST (most
started v positive & then decline & more positive towards the end)
• Overall not always positive – this may reflect very high expectations at the
start, followed by realism mid-way and then COVID; also facilitation
• Time span of the project not sufficient to achieve fundamental change

18. Overall benefit from participation in ROBUST
3 Top benefits
(consistent across all surveys)
• Development of new valuable
relationships (> 70% of
respondents)
• Acquisition of new knowledge
(> 60%)
• Opportunity to address an
important issue (> 60%)

19. Co-innovation pathways, radical innovation?
• Two pathways: strategic (POLICY approach) or specific (PRACTICE
approach); overarching vision or multiple experiments
• Few labs in ROBUST few got beyond ‘experimentation’
• Covid-19 meant ‘experimentation by proxy’ but it also created an
appetite for ‘new’ governance ideas
• Were labs radical in their work? Challenged thinking on growth and FE
dimensions that support rural-urban well-being
• The influence of local and national politics

20. Rural Vision for Wales
• Outcomes: Rural Vision, Evidence Report and
WLGA Rural Manifesto, and ‘How Local is
Local?’ report
• Met the success criteria outlined in RIA
• WLGA Rural Forum members assessment of
outcomes
• In-team evaluation with discussion of process,
achievements, limitations and next steps
across AU and WLGA participants

21. Gloucestershire’s DPS ‘experiment’
GCC has contracted out school food catering service
providing 18,500 primary meals a day to FFL standard.
New contract issued in July 2021
o DPS (originated in retail) consolidates all available
supplies from pre-qualified farmers and presents
these to buyers (school cooks) in an on-line shop.
o Supplies (and prices) may change daily (hence
dynamic) meaning no commodity lots – smaller
producers can dip in and out. Larger wholesalers
retained for frozen, bulk or dry goods.
o CCS (govt) pilot of South West Food Hub – regional
DPS across all public sector catering providers.
o Equilibrium Markets and DEFRA’s Dynamic
Procurement Advisory Board.

22. Outcome – new GCC contract wording
‘The Authority is currently working with South
West Food Hub, the University of
Gloucestershire and the Royal Agricultural
University to increase the use of fresh,
seasonal and local products via a robust
dynamic purchasing system.
The Service Provider shall work with the
Authority to further these objectives.’

23. Five dimensions for a well-being economy

24. Lessons learned for future multi-actor projects
1. LL is a relatively new concept and approach. Provides a good
framework for co-production but time needed to understand how
to plan and implement
2. Communicating the goals, principles and functioning of LLs properly
to project partners and stakeholders
3. Increased flexibility in terms of implementation, time schedules and
outputs planning
4. Dedicated tasks to support reflexivity and adaptation
5. Professional facilitation is not typically the role of a researcher
6. Multi-actor projects need more time, including a preparatory phase
to gain mutual understanding and to jointly plan work

25. 25
Thank you for your attention
dmaye@glos.ac.uk
@DamianMaye
www.ccri.ac.uk
https://rural-urban.eu/