Co-Designing Groundwater Governance in Mediterranean Tourism–Agriculture Systems: Evidence from Living Labs in Crete

This study evaluates how Living Labs, as participatory co-design platforms, can improve groundwater governance in Mediterranean regions where tourism and agriculture compete for water resources. By engaging multi-sector stakeholders in structured, participatory processes, it examines how social learning, trust building, and knowledge co-production can support adaptive, equitable, and context-specific water management solutions.

Across two case study areas in Crete, the Living Lab (LL) process combined participatory workshops and in-depth stakeholder interviews to support inclusive, knowledge-based groundwater governance. The Malia workshop (July 2021) brought together 55 stakeholders from local and regional authorities, water agencies, NGOs, civil society, technical experts, and researchers to introduce the project, present the hydrological and geographical context, and identify local water management needs and roles. Ice-breaking activities, roundtable discussions, Mentimeter surveys, and interactive mapping enabled participants to collaboratively explore challenges and perspectives.

In Agia, the Living Lab process developed through three workshop stages. The first workshop (in March 2024), attended by 47 stakeholders, used a flexible, discussion-driven format with participatory mapping and cooperation exercises to capture sectoral perspectives on water storage and distribution and to embedding corporate stakeholder knowledge into water- management simulation models. A focused technical Living Lab (in March 2025) brought together water- utility experts and researchers to examine groundwater and water- allocation models (PTC and WEAP), address data gaps and irrigation pressures, and initiate data- sharing and model refinement. The third multi-stakeholder workshop (December 2025), involving 16 representatives from agriculture, authorities, and utilities, and science, expanded the process to include governance and equity issues through SWOT analysis, spatial and collaboration mapping, and hands-on decision-making activities. These activities led to stably prioritized, co-designed solutions such as wastewater reuse, rainwater harvesting, improved monitoring, and farmer training. The Living Lab process was further supported by 28 semi-structured interviews (14 per site), which captured detailed insights on groundwater use, governance, infrastructure, climate change, and future needs. The integration of one-to-one interviews helped reveal conflicts within sectors or among stakeholder categories, fostering inclusion and setting the stage for open dialogue sessions during group workshops.

Together, workshops and interviews created a layered participatory framework that links local knowledge, institutional capacity, and scientific modeling. Overall, the findings show that Living Labs create dynamic social learning environments that strengthen stakeholder engagement and collaboration, integrate diverse knowledge sources, and support more transparent and adaptive decision-making for integrated multi-sectoral water management. This approach offers a novel, transferable framework for sustainable water governance in Mediterranean regions facing competing water demands and climate pressures.

This work was supported by OurMED PRIMA Program project funded by the European Union’s

Horizon 2020 research and innovation under grant agreement No. 2222.