Modern societies face complex challenges such as biodiversity loss, water scarcity, demographic change, technological developments and climate change. These dynamics require far-reaching structural changes and new approaches to urban development. In view of the complexity of these challenges, a centralised, top-down transformation is hardly expedient. Instead, flexible, context-sensitive governance models are needed that actively involve urban stakeholders.
An interdisciplinary research team from the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology has now developed a Guide for Transformative Governance for Widening Urban Transformative Capacity and a Curriculum for researchers and municipal project managers.
The guide supports city administrations, urban stakeholders and researchers in the successful implementation and management of complex transformation projects. ‘The approach is based on the concept of ‘context governance’, which views cities as complex systems in which adaptable and co-creative governance models are essential,’ says Doris Wilhelmer from the AIT Center for Innovation Systems & Policy.
‘Transformative research’ as the next step after transdisciplinary research is not yet practised by most research organisations. Joint management of experimental living labs/real-world labs by municipal project managers and researchers - with the help of transformative governance instruments (see TANGO-W Guidelines) - increases the successful handling of complex system dynamics and thus the implementation strength and effectiveness of sustainable experiments. The TANGO-W curriculum as a coordination of a learning process between (transformative) researchers and municipal project managers is a next step that takes up the ‘Guidelines’ and carries them forward into practice.
The guide and the curriculum were developed as part of the EU project TANGO-W, which is dedicated to promoting transformative governance approaches for sustainable urban development. The two publications thus provide practical recommendations for the implementation and management of Urban Living Labs and other transformation projects. They therefore provide a valuable basis for the development of resilient, sustainable and future-proof cities.