About the Living Lab
Is this a laboratory? Not quite.
The Living Lab Lokstadt is a newly built neighbourhood in a former industrial area in Winterthur. It comprises two housing cooperatives, private residential buildings as well as restaurants, stores, manufactories, small businesses and offices. The aim of the Living Lab is to test sustainable lifestyles. To this end, new approaches to living and working are developed and tested together with the residents of Lokstadt. The focus is on achieving a good balance between quality of life and resource conservation.
The project is being carried out as part of the SWICE research project and will run until 2027. In addition to the ZHAW researchers, residents, employees and various stakeholders from Lokstadt are also involved.
FAQ
What is a Living Lab?
A living lab is a place or environment where residents, companies and researchers work together to try out new ideas in the real world. For example, they test whether a shared crafts room strengthens the sense of community and at the same time makes the purchase of expensive tools for each individual household superfluous, or whether a car-sharing service in the neighborhood reduces the use of personal cars.
A living lab therefore functions like a “living laboratory” in which innovations are tested and further developed directly in everyday life. The focus is on the needs of the users, so that they are actively involved in the development process through co-creation.
What does co-creation mean?
Co-creation refers to the joint development of ideas, creative problem-solving and innovative tinkering together with residents of a living lab. Researchers and other stakeholders use the resulting ideas to create projects that meet the needs and ideas of the residents.
Guidelines of the Living Lab Lokstadt
- We provide impetus: Through our projects, transformation processes are taken up, promoted, initiated and researched locally.
- We actively participate and empower: our projects involve the residents concerned and support them
- Our research is transdisciplinary: we learn from the everyday knowledge and expertise of local stakeholders.
- We take a normative approach: our projects serve to improve the quality of life and save energy and CO2
- We manage conflicts: Transformation is always full of conflict. We want to consciously negotiate conflicts with and between the actors involved.
- We are constantly adapting processes: We make our research processes transparent, consult with local stakeholders and are open to adapting our approach if necessary.
- We see failure as a learning process: we reflect on all results and use failures as lessons for this and other research processes.
- We perpetuate developments: We intend for the results of our research to have a long-term impact on the ground.
- We transfer knowledge: We make the system, target and transformation knowledge we have acquired and the methods we have developed available for discussion and application in the (scientific) community.
What is being researched in the SWICE project?
The Switzerland-wide SWICE project is investigating how sustainability can be promoted through social, technological and organizational solutions and translated into concrete measures for an effective energy transition. The aim is to achieve the highest possible quality of life while minimizing resource consumption.
The project, which is funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, will last a total of 8 years, is divided into 8 different work packages and involves 10 universities and around 20 practice partners.
More on the SWICE website.
Partners
