Over the last decade, sport and physical activity have become increasingly recognised and implemented as tools to foster social cohesion in neighbourhoods, cities and communities around Europe. As a result, numerous programmes have emerged that attempt to enhance social cohesion through a variety of sport-based approaches (Moustakas, Sanders, Schlenker, & Robrade, 2021; Svensson & Woods, 2017). However, despite this boom in sport and social cohesion, current definitions and understandings of social cohesion rarely take into account the needs, expectations or views of practitioners, stakeholders and, especially, participants on the ground (Raw, Sherry, & Rowe, 2021). Yet, to truly foster broad social outcomes like social cohesion, there is increasing recognition that programmes must move beyond interventions that only focus on the individual level, and instead find ways to work with and engage a wide array of stakeholders and organisations (Hartmann & Kwauk, 2011; Moustakas, 2022). In turn, this allows programmes to respond to community needs, foster engagement, deliver more sustainable outcomes, and work at both the individual and institutional levels. The Living Lab concept - which is distinguished by multi-stakeholder involvement, user engagement, innovation and co-creation within a real-life setting - provides an innovative approach to help achieve these goals. More formally, Living Labs have been defined as “user-centred, open innovation ecosystems based on a systematic user co-creation approach, integrating research and innovation processes in real-life communities and settings” (European Network of Living Labs, 2021). Thus, this can be a powerful approach to engage a wide array of stakeholders, and create interventions that are responsive to community needs. As such, the Sport for Social Cohesion Lab (SSCL) project was conceived to implement a Living Lab approach within five sport for social cohesion programmes in four different European countries. This approach was chosen to help programmes directly engage programme participants, generate understanding of the elements that promote social cohesion in a sport setting and to co-create activities and tools to explore, support and understand social cohesion within these communities. The following toolkit reflects our multi-national experiences designing and implementing Living Labs across these various contexts. Our partners represent a variety of settings, from schools to community-based organisations, and together these experiences can provide valuable insights to other sport (and non-sport) organisations wishing to implement a Living Lab approach within their contexts and programmes. Thus, practitioners and implementers of community-based programmes should be understood as the immediate target group of this toolkit, though the insights and reflections included here can be of relevance for any individual or organisation seeking to use more participatory approaches within their work. In particular, in the coming sections, this toolkit will define the Living Lab concept more precisely, suggest some steps to launch a Living Lab, and offer insights on how to implement the different components of a Living Lab.
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Jo-An Kamp is a lecturer and researcher at Fontys University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. She coaches ICT students in the fields of UX, research, (interactive) media, communication, (interaction) design, ethics and innovation. She does research on the impact of technology on humans and society. Jo-An is co-creator of the Technology Impact Cycle Toolkit (www.tict.io), a toolkit designed to make people think and make better decisions about (the implementation of) technology and is a member of the Moral Design Strategy research group.
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In a rapidly evolving world, the need for innovative approaches to societal challenges is more critical than ever. As partners of the Network Applied Design Research (NADR), we believe that applied design research can be a promising approach for addressing complex issues in many domains, such as health-care, digital media, and urban sustainability. But what makes applied design research such a power-ful force for societal change? And how can designers move beyond mere problem-solving to create lasting impact? To discuss this, NADR applies an annual knowledge cycle where researchers submit contributions that are mutually reflected upon. The contributions you can read in these preceedings are the result of such a knowledge-sharing process. The twenty-one contributions are divided into four themes, each addressing a different dimension of the issue at hand. Contributions in part 1 – Connecting System Levels - emphasise the relationship between small-scale interventions and large-scale change. Contributions in part 2 - Theory of Change - examine how change processes actually take place. Contributions in part 3 - Balancing Different Worldviews - address the unique perspective that each stakeholder involved contributes. And contributions in part 4 - Beyond Solutionism - discuss whether it is at all possible to develop ready-made ‘solutions’ to the complex challenges we are facing.
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Over the last couple of years there is a growing interest in the role of the bicycle in Western urban transport systems as an alternative to car use. Cycling not only has positive environmental impacts, but also positive health effects through increased physical activity. From the observation of the Urban Intelligence team that cycling data and information was limited, we have started the development of cycleprint. Cycleprint stands for Cycle Policy Renewal and INnovation by means of tracking Technology with the objective to enable more customer friendly cycle policy.The initial objective of Cycleprint was to translate GPS data into policy relevant insights to enable customer friendly cycle policy. The online toolkit what Cycleprint has become, answers the questions about:-route choice-speeds-delays at intersections -intensities Because of the success of Cycleprint in the Netherlands the range of features is still under development. As a result of the development of Cycleprint the Dutch organized the fietstelweek. In addition to Cycleprint the Urban Intelligence team developed the cyclescan to explore the effects of cycle network enhancement. The project is developed in direct collaboration with the Provincie Noord-Brabant and Metropoolregio Eindhoven to fulfill the ambition to become cycling region of the Netherlands in 2020.
Various studies suggest that the fashion and textile industry need to move away from traditional, extractive leadership models. Dreier et al. (2019) show how traditional top-down, hierarchical leadership approaches are not effective in fostering sustainability, and argued that a more collaborative, participative approach is needed to implement true and long-standing change. Moreover, research also shows how fashion and textile designers don’t see themselves as leaders but instead as ‘creators’ who employ others to manage their business and lead the team. This change in leadership is also necessary to achieve the European vision for Industry 5.0 (2022), which places the wellbeing of the worker at the centre of the production process. If we want to find solutions to the problems we face today, we need to change the way we think, lead, and do business. This calls for regenerative leadership which involves not only minimising negative impacts, but also actively working to restore and enhance the social ecological systems in which an industry operates. And since technology has become ubiquitous in every aspect of our lives (including business), it is important to explore its role in helping us become better regenerative leaders. With ReLead, The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS) aims to amplify consortium partner i-did’s social and environmental impact. Since its inception in 2009, i-did has helped more than 400 people become gainfully employed while helping recycle almost 60.000 kgs of textile waste. This has been possible due to the transformation of i-did’s founder (Mireille Geijsen) from a creative designer, into a collaborative and mindful leader. The intended outcome of this project is to create a tech-enabled leadership transformation toolkit and leadership academy that helps creative designers transform into regenerative leaders.
