6 Urban Labs: Fostering Social Cohesion, Equity and Sustainability in Contemporary Cities

The contemporary urban challenge:

The contemporary urban landscape is agitated by the dual challenge of unequal cities and escalating housing crises, posing significant threats to both social equity and environmental sustainability. These issues, combined, demand comprehensive solutions that address the pressing need for affordable housing while ensuring the well-being of urban ecosystems and communities. Globally, car-dependent urban planning has led to modern cities utilising up to 70% of their open space to serve motor vehicles, whilst sustainable urban design recommends that this figure should not exceed 25% (Mueller et al., 2020). In addition, the hyper-commodification of urban land and other essential social amenities such as housing, transportation, utilities, and public space, highlights the limits of profit-based forms of urbanism in the current neoliberal context (Brenner et al., 2009). In this essay, the nexus between unequal cities and housing crises will be discussed, giving way to an argument on the potential role of urban labs as enablers for change.

Deregulation, financialisation, and privatisation are common contemporary neoliberal housing policies in many countries (Mete et al., 2021). In such a model, where housing is traded and exchanged in the market, access to housing is determined by purchasing power, leading to unequal access and distribution, compounding socio-economic inequities (Chiu, 2004). This exacerbates other socio-economic issues such as segregation and inequality within urban spaces. In addition to this, the housing sector poses a significant challenge to environmental sustainability, especially in terms of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (Mete et al., 2021).

A just city?

 Mete & Xue (2021) illustrate and exemplify these challenges in two urban regions in the global North. Developing two cases of housing development and contextualising them within two different European cities, Milan (Italy) and Oslo (Norway), they highlighted that the two areas are contextually different, especially in terms of their economies. Norway is experiencing reasonable economic growth, while the Italian economy has been fluctuating for more than thirty years and has been severely affected by debt and economic crises. In terms of environmental sustainability, the study showed how the Oslo region’s strategy is more proactive, pursuing sustainable housing and urban development. In Milan, the political context prioritises economic growth over environmental issues. Despite these contextual differences, both cities face challenges surrounding unaffordability, segregation, and inequality, which impedes social equity. These shared urban challenges suggest that the current hegemonic housing and urban development model does not meet the criteria of the ‘just city’ as defined by Fainsteim (2005). The ‘just city’ is a concept within which a set of values must be evident. These include democracy, equity, diversity, growth, and sustainability. Within the current global context, when developing or striving for ‘just cities’, it is essential to consider the social and environmental challenges concurrently, and not as two separate, distinct dimensions, as they are most often discussed and studied.

Contemporary cities are dynamic, intricate systems where various factors and sub-systems consistently interact and influence each other. As such, the problems facing our cities require holistic approaches, which do not aim for solely ecological solutions (Hubert, 2010), nor for pure technological interventions either (Owens, 2022). In deriving and developing solutions, participation, acceptance, and social inclusion of people living there should be of utmost importance. Studying the intersections of culture, society, economy, governance, and the environment offers a holistic framework that fosters inclusion and promotes effective solutions to urban challenges such as social justice and housing (Thomsen, 2007). To this end, establishing and utilising ‘Urban Labs’ can be pivotal in making cities more equitable. Urban Labs can provide an innovative and comprehensive approach to understanding and addressing the ever-growing inequalities faced by those who live, work, and engage with urban spaces. These labs can strengthen communities by fostering interdisciplinary research and collaboration between citizens, local authorities, and experts, to contribute diverse knowledges and perspectives (Collins, 2021).

Urban labs as a potentially transformative model:

Societies’ diverse demographics, experiences, and social structures greatly influence urban inequalities within specific locations. Urban Labs recognise the contextual importance of social factors and research issues such as income inequality, housing affordability, and access to essential services within specific locations. In doing so, they can work to foster social cohesion and equity, by promoting community engagement and adequate, sound consultation with target populations. Several exemplary practices can be highlighted, such as the IMAGO Living Lab prototype in France (2023), or the TreStykker student housing prototype in Norway (Thomsen, 2007). Each of these projects orbit around the active participation of the main stakeholders (in these cases, students) in the design process, while promoting the collective spatial appropriation in parallel with remaining costs. The result is a development that is both efficient and environmentally friendly.

Another crucial intersection shaping urban environments is the relationship between governance and the environment. By studying specific governance structures, processes and systems, Urban Labs can investigate and explore issues related to environmental injustice, such as unequal access to resources or green spaces. Bai X. et al (2022) recently highlighted that 14 out of the 100 most populated urban areas cannot fulfil the most basic requirement of 100 litres of clean water per capita, for drinking, cooking, and hygiene purposes. In this realm, democratising dialogue by integrating traditional ecological knowledges and practices into research, which many existing Urban Labs endeavour to do, can contribute to sustainable development by proposing solutions that account for both environmental sustainability with social equity, creating cities that are both just and resilient.

Contemporary urbanism continues to face the twin challenge of unequal cities and housing crises, threatening both social equity and environmental sustainability. Neoliberal housing policies, based on deregulation and privatization have resulted in extreme levels of housing inequality. In the face of these and other related urban challenges, Urban Labs can offer potentially innovative solutions by fostering an interdisciplinary, collaborative, and co-productive approach between citizens, local authorities, and experts. By studying the intersections of culture, society, economy, governance, and environment, these sites of investigation and exploration can promote inclusion and offer effective solutions to urban problems. In addition, such place-based experimentation can be richly contextualised, offering a more locally attuned approach to research at the urban scale. With further research, investment, and continued and enhanced stakeholder engagement across sites and scales, urban labs could provide a nucleus to foster positive change within contemporary urban environments, due to their holistic approach to social cohesion, equity, and sustainability.

References

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