Co-creating climate resilience in European Coastal Cities: applying the Living Lab Integrative Approach within the SCORE project

Cities seek holistic approaches to become more resilient and tackle climate hazards and impacts. Such approaches are multi-disciplinary and occur through innovative processes, continuous learning exchanges, long-term strategic planning regarding the impacts of climate change, and effective engagement of urban stakeholders like planners, local government, communities, researchers, and industry. The Living Lab approach is highly relevant in this context. (Urban) Living Labs are open innovation ecosystems in urban environments based on a systematic user co-creation approach that integrates research and innovation activities in communities, actively involving all related stakeholders to co-create, implement, test, and evaluate innovations in real-life situations to address different issues. Such integration of actors from government, industry, civil society, and academia in Living Labs is known as a quadruple helix model of partnership. Co-creation entails an iterative decision-making and implementation process leveraging diverse stakeholders through innovative shared governance. Citizens and end-users co-produce knowledge and solutions beyond their traditional role of beneficiaries. However, in practice, enhancing stakeholder engagement is a persistent challenge.

Our oral presentation will discuss how the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation project ‘SCORE - Smart Control of the Climate Resilience in European Coastal Cities’ implemented an innovative approach, namely the Living Lab Integrative Approach, to effectively and meaningfully engage with stakeholders from the whole quadruple helix in efforts to enhance climate resilience in ten coastal cities in Europe. SCORE applied several participatory tools and methods to engage local stakeholders and decision-makers in each of the ten Coastal City Living Labs, which we will highlight during the presentation. We will also discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by the Labs and lessons learned in engaging the diverse stakeholders in this urban climate project.