Co-learning in living labs: nurturing civic agency and resilience

How can living labs mobilise civic agency and resilience in citizens? What methods enable this? What roles do design-researchers play in supporting the formation of resilient communities? This paper investigates a by-product of living lab processes: how civic agency and resilience are cultivated in citizen participants. An urban living lab case study, Climate Companions, in the Poplar neighbourhood of London, UK, is investigated to understand whether and how collective civic learning supports citizens in achieving individual agency and how this can be mobilised collectively towards just transitions at the neighbourhood scale. Post-evaluation qualitative interviews and auto-ethnographic accounts show how an existing urban living lab (R-Urban Poplar) assisted its citizen participants in acquiring new capabilities, skills and knowledge(s) in support of just transitions. Co-design was integral to this process, expanding reach to new audiences, diversifying participation and supporting civic action. A diverse living lab setting can support the formation of different forms of agency that can be mobilised towards just neighbourhood transitions. The presented case study highlights the importance of co-design and co-designers in mediating the process. Practitioners and policymakers can adapt this process to meaningfully support citizens in realising new capabilities for action and change.