Living Labs in a Lean Perspective

Abstract

Living Labs (LLs) consist of social and dynamic environments that enable end-users and stakeholders to collaborate towards an innovation. This paper presents the concept of LLs and analysis on how it can foster communication and collaboration from a lean perspective. Key concepts, such as co-creation, common ground, shared understanding and boundary objects are discussed in relation to LLs. The paper highlights the synergies between LLs and lean, including the focus on users' needs and values, the use of participatory approaches and early inclusion of stakeholders in the decision-making process, for example. There is however lack of clarity in the literature regarding the concept of LLs and, hence, there is a need for future empirical research to enable a better understanding of the synergies between Living Labs and lean.

Eliciting Requirements in Social Housing Retrofit Projects: Tools and Processes Within a Living Lab Setting

“…Existing literature highlights that there are multiple definitions for living labs, leading to multiple applications in practice (Bridi et al, 2022). Despite the lack of conceptual clarity, which might suggest the existence of different ontological assumptions on the terminology (Soliman-Junior et al, 2021), different authors and researchers often highlight similar characteristics (Bridi et al, 2022), such as their focus on end-users and the use of collaborative processes to identify, co-create and implement innovations in real contexts (Leminen & Westerlund, 2017).…”

“…Kowaltowski & Granja (2011) show that using value cards provided a shift from satisfaction levels to the introduction of the concept of desired values, which can be seen as an important tool to assess building performance and improve the design and construction process in social housing retrofit (Kowaltowski & Granja, 2011). The use of this tool can also be linked to lean research, as it is easy to use and there is an opportunity to capture requirements and values (Soliman-Junior et al, 2021).…”

“…In living labs, different stakeholders actively collaborate and co-create solutions (Eriksson & Kulkki, 2005). Existing research acknowledges their application in different contexts and initiatives (Soliman-Junior et al, 2021;Bridi et al, 2022). Their use in the construction and housing domains becomes promising especially when focused on retrofit projects (Bridi et al, 2022), as motivations of these initiatives are often diverse, resulting from cultural and societal evolutions, changing comfort needs and standards, and the advent of new housing systems and technologies (Karvonen, 2013).…”