Sustainability Living Labs as a Methodological Approach to Research on the Cultural Drivers of Sustainable Development

Abstract

Given that culture-driven processes cannot be researched and designed if taken out from the real-life environment, an appropriate methodology to study the impact of culture on sustainable development is needed. The aim of the research was to develop a model of a sustainability living lab as a methodological approach based on the living lab concept and its capabilities to study the cultural drivers of sustainable development. The research was carried out with use of the conceptual research framework based on analyzing existing knowledge on cognitive processes within living laboratories and their interpretation in the light of the relationship between culture and sustainable development. First, the results of the analysis of sustainability cultural drivers and the living lab concept are presented, which constitute the research framework of the study. Then, the main contribution as a novel theoretical concept of sustainability living lab is elaborated and discussed. The novelty of this approach to research on the cultural drivers of sustainable development is based on linking together in a coherent model the consequences of the dual nature of culture and the arguments for conducting such research beyond the limitations of closed laboratories towards the highly dynamic environment of real life.