Living Labs for Rural Areas: Contextualization of Living Lab Frameworks, Concepts and Practices
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Tržaška Cesta 25, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia
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Sustainability 2019, 11(14), 3797; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143797
Received: 28 May 2019
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Revised: 24 June 2019
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Accepted: 9 July 2019
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Published: 11 July 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Governance of Social Innovation for a Sustainable Economy: Requirements, Actors and Approaches)
Living Labs are spaces for innovative and participative research, development and activities that use multidisciplinary approaches and promote the co-creation paradigm. Our specific interest lies in exploring the value of the Living Lab concept for creating environments that enable equal opportunities for people living in rural and urban areas, and for making rural areas attractive places to live. Moreover, through the existing practices and research results available, Living Labs are seen as one of the important building blocks of smart rural development and an important step towards establishing a Smart Village environment. Living Labs are a valuable player in enhancing circular economy, digital transformation, local self-sufficiency and other elements of sustainable living. The main aim of this paper is therefore to put Living Labs in the context of rural areas and evaluate their possible contributions for sustainable rural development. This paper argues that the element of community and social change should be considered as a key element in enabling sustainable living.
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Keywords:
Living Lab; rural areas; rural development; (social) innovation; Smart Villages
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MDPI and ACS Style
Zavratnik, V.; Superina, A.; Stojmenova Duh, E. Living Labs for Rural Areas: Contextualization of Living Lab Frameworks, Concepts and Practices. Sustainability 2019, 11, 3797. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143797
AMA Style
Zavratnik V, Superina A, Stojmenova Duh E. Living Labs for Rural Areas: Contextualization of Living Lab Frameworks, Concepts and Practices. Sustainability. 2019; 11(14):3797. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143797
Chicago/Turabian StyleZavratnik, Veronika, Argene Superina, and Emilija Stojmenova Duh. 2019. "Living Labs for Rural Areas: Contextualization of Living Lab Frameworks, Concepts and Practices" Sustainability 11, no. 14: 3797. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143797
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