Andrew Karvonen - Urban Laboratory Lecture Series

Laboratories as a New Mode of Urban Governance

Over the last decade, a wide range of actors have established laboratories, testbeds, platforms, and projects to catalyse sustainable urban transformations. These situated and bounded sites of knowledge production promise to go beyond 'urbanisation as usual' and provide proof-of-concept that cities can realise their ambitious goals of social equity, environmental integrity, and/or economic prosperity. However, it is unclear how these spaces of innovation influence the broader urban development dynamics beyond their experimental boundaries.

In this talk, Andrew Karvonen (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) considers the implications of 'laboratorising' cities in the twenty-first century. He argues that, instead of informing existing modes of governance, laboratories are emerging as a new mode of urban governance that is informed by trialling, learning, and scaling. Laboratorisation provides hope for improved urban futures but the implications to urban politics and governance are unclear.

• Dr Andrew Karvonen is Assistant Professor of Sustainable Urban Development at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. He is co-editor (with James Evans and Rob Raven) of the 2016 Routledge compendium The Experimental City.
• This lecture is chaired by Dr Clare Melhuish (UCL Urban Laboratory)
  

Podcast

Urban Laboratory Lecture Series

The talk is part of our new autumn fortnightly lecture series, investigating the meaning and renewed relevance of the term 'urban laboratory'. The lectures are free and no booking is required. Please contact urbanlaboratory@ucl.ac.uk in advance if you require step free access to the room at 26 Bedford Way.

Comparing and Contrasting Sustainable Urban Transformations workshop

UCL research students are invited to attend a workshop led by Andrew Karvonen on the following day. Urban Laboratory affiliated students are given priority. Information on the workshop can be found here.

• Facebook event page