When you’re looking to solve a problem, involving the people who will actually be impacted by the solution makes sense…or so you would think. Typically, however, when it comes to housing innovation (and affordable housing in particular) that hasn’t been the norm. Instead, experts have been brought in, solutions proposed then imposed on people and communities who have had little or no say.
It doesn’t matter how well-intentioned the process is: when you exclude users, any solution is bound to fail. Luckily, that top-down attitude is changing. Social innovators are embracing a concept called living labs, which bring users in from the get-go to ensure solutions are something they will actually use. Living labs are increasingly being used to tackle complex challenges like affordable housing, placemaking/placekeeping and figuring out how to make cities better for communities, families, individuals and the natural world.
We spoke to two Canadian innovators who are using living labs to create meaningful, sustainable change. Hugo Steben is Director of Capacity Building and Incubation at Maison de l’Innovation Sociale, and Jean-Francois Jasmin is Open Innovation Researcher and Facilitator at Living Lab en Innovation Ouverte (LLio). Both are enthusiastic proponents of this inclusive, user-centric approach to solving social problems.
So what are living labs, exactly?
They are experiments that take place in real-life environments. They try something quickly, at a small, low-risk scale and learn from it to iterate, improve and build progressively bigger and more impactful solutions. Most notably, these experiments involve users from the outset. Unlike other innovation models, which simply test already-baked ideas in user settings, living labs include all stakeholders at every stage.
“It isn’t about pushing a solution on people or about experts looking at users with a magnifying glass and saying ‘I know better, do this,’” says Steben. “Users are critical participants in the design process: bringing their intentions to the forefront leads to a solution they’ll actually want to use.” They’re about co-creation and figuring things out together.
“So many projects jump into large-scale development after being worked on by “experts” like researchers, sociologists, urban planners,” says Jasmin. “But these professionals are not experts in the lived experience of end users. We need to understand how people live their lives in housing and shared public spaces, see their relationships with each other, the built environment and nature.”
But Steben says living labs aren’t just about innovation: they are about driving adoption of innovation, which is often the hardest part. “We’re already at a place where solutions are known,” says Steben.
“The challenge is that they aren’t achievable within existing systems and attitudes. Many high-potential approaches to housing and placekeeping are highly complex and require a different way of thinking about policy, financing, insurance, zoning – and aligning the mindsets of players with different interests.”
The focus in living labs is on understanding how to make the innovation compatible with the environment, and with available technology, climate, culture, social norms, etc., then testing it in real-life conditions so you can account for unexpected behaviors.
Living labs connect our built environment with nature
The natural world is a vital stakeholder in liveable communities. “Being open-minded to all the actors is an important part of the process,” says Jasmin. “And that means giving a voice to nature, too. It’s not just about considering the needs of people and infrastructures, you must also consider the needs of nature and how people interact with it in terms of things like air filtration and heat absorption. And in a project with First Nations communities, it takes on an even greater role.”
Living labs play a vital role in driving affordable housing innovation
They provide real-world environments for experimentation, collaboration, and the development of sustainable solutions. These labs bring together residents, experts, youth, older adults, newcomers, researchers, and nature to explore and test ideas, technologies, and social initiatives. By creating a space where innovative concepts can be prototyped, evaluated and refined, they facilitate the advancement of regenerative designs, construction techniques, and materials that lower costs without compromising quality.
These labs also foster social innovation by encouraging community engagement, shared resources, and inclusive housing models. The knowledge and insights they generate have the potential to transform the affordable housing landscape, leading to more accessible, energy-efficient, and community-oriented housing solutions that can be replicated in various contexts.
Check out these inspiring examples:
Kaslo Living Lab (BC)
Wilden Living Lab (BC)
European Network of Living Labs
