Thinking Urban Transformation through Elsewhere: A Conversation between Real-World Labs in São Paulo and Hamburg on Governance and Practical Action

Abstract

Urban real-world laboratories (RWLs) are increasingly used internationally and studied as an instrument of urban transformation. New cases in diverse political, economic, social and ecological situations offer a rich set of learning experiences, but the distinctive urban contexts make it impossible to draw comparisons in the traditional sense. In this article—an experiment in itself—we aim to gain a deeper understanding of how RWLs contribute to urban transformation in very different contexts. We apply Jennifer Robinson’s theoretical framework “thinking through elsewhere” on two ongoing urban RWLs: the Itaim Paulista Lab, located in the urban periphery of São Paulo, Brazil and the Lokstedt Urban Transformation Lab in Hamburg, Germany. We operationalize Robinson’s framework in two steps. First, we present the genetics—context, roots, concepts and activities—of both labs. Second, we engage the RWLs in a generative conversation on their role in transforming governance and practical action, with a special focus on the questions of if and how the labs contribute to long-term transformative change. We also find that both labs show potential to contribute to long-term transformative change through governance and practical action.

Urban labs beyond Europe: the formation and contextualization of experimental climate governance in five Latin American cities

“…Van Waes et al (2021) are less explicit but also talk in some detail about the lab formation process. Other studies that cover aspects of the formation process to a more limited extent include Kohler et al (2021) and some other chapters in Marvin et al (2018a).…”

“… 21. In a rare study that looks at ULs in Germany and Brazil, the authors claim that because of their differences, “the two cases in Hamburg and São Paulo are certainly not comparable, therefore a conventional multiple case study is not appropriate” (Kohler et al, 2021, page 3). The authors of another study argue that “the contexts and challenges of cities in developing countries .…”