Exploratory analysis of living labs contribution to climate adaptation needs and innovative multifunctional dikes in the Netherlands

Climate adaptation strategies are commonly dubbed complex and context-specific. Institutional and social innovations, participatory and learning processes are among the needs for effective climate adaptation measures. In counterpart, living labs have emerged as open collaborative platforms for innovative solutions, actively involving users and responding to their specific contexts and needs. Although living labs experiences yielded success and proved utility, research on living labs for climate adaptation are noticeably limited. The present exploratory research aims at identifying the distinguishing characteristics of living labs, then assesses their contribution to climate adaptation needs via the analysis of three selected case studies. The research also sheds light on the new integral approach for flood defense in the Netherlands. The potential contribution of living labs to innovative multifunctional dikes governance is explored, backed up with the insights of Dutch stakeholders interviewed and three case studies analysis. The study finds that climate adaptation living labs differ in goals, activities and results but the methodologies applied are catalyzing climate adaptation innovation, participation, knowledge co-production and learning. In addition, the exploration revealed that connectivity between actors, creation of shared vision, and science-policy bridging are among the living labs contributions to multifunctional dikes governance.