Scaling Deep with Local Community Champions in Living Labs

Living Labs are collaborative, real-world environments for co-creating sustainable innovations that rely on trust-based engagement with local communities. However, while many studies emphasise scaling up or out of such innovations, the potential for achieving qualitative transformations in relation to local values (“scaling deep”) remains underexplored. In response, the study adopted a design ethnographic approach that blended immersive, reflexive ethnographic methods with the participatory co-design characteristics of Living Labs. This approach involved closely partnering with a local community champion through participant observation and co-creation workshops embedded in the community’s daily life. The findings show that community champions acted as co-creators and mediators, building trust and aligning Living Lab activities with local values through a relational ethic of care.

By immersing the research team in day-to-day community life via shared activities and open dialogue, champions enabled situated learning about local needs, thereby facilitating “scaling deep” through mutual trust and understanding. Overall, the study demonstrates that scaling deep in Living Labs hinges on embodied researcher–community partnerships in mutual care and shared responsibility. The study contributes to the Living Lab literature by illustrating how community champions can bridge understanding about sustainable transformations through relational engagement.

Supporting Evidence

The design ethnographic approach that was used by the authors integrates ethnographic methods with design processes to gain deeper insights into people’s lived experiences, practices, and contexts. More specifically, the paper focuses on the Biskopsgården Living Lab in Sweden, and the collaboration with one community champion. The qualitative and interpretative nature of this approach enabled the researchers to work closely with residents in their everyday settings, allowing situated knowledge to emerge and practical mobility interventions to be designed based on local values and lived experiences. The long-term, single case study approach makes the conclusions empirically grounded but not universally acceptable.

Key Findings

The authors argue that “scaling deep”, meaning creating lasting changes in values, relationships, and community practices, is as important as the scaling of innovation or the increasing of its reach. The 18-month design ethnography revealed that local community champions play a central role in enabling the deeper scaling, acting as trusted intermediaries who bridge researchers and residents, facilitate participation, and ensure that innovation activities align with local needs, values, and everyday realities.

The study indicates that scaling deep is enabled by five conditions presented in the concept of a Deep Scaling Reciprocity Map: From Gatekeepers to Co-Creators, Practicing Relational Ethics, Immersing the Researcher(s), and Situated Learning through Moving Around, which enable Trusting Conversations to occur and further enhance conditions.

The relational approach built through the community champions, enables innovations to become embedded more deeply within communities, increasing their long-term impact and resilience. The paper therefore recommends that future Living Labs invest in community champions and relationship-building as core components of sustainable innovation rather than treating engagement as a short-term project activity.