Goals and methods of transformative research
The Real-World Laboratory is an important approach in transformative research (Schneidewind, Singer-Brodowski 2014a, UBA 2017). In 2011, the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) formulated objectives for this young field of research comprehensively for the first time. In the main report, the WBGU reiterated the urgent need for the "Great Transformation" toward climate compatibility and sustainability. According to the WBGU, the transformation must include "profound changes in infrastructures, production processes, regulatory systems, and lifestyles as well as a new interplay between politics, society, science, and economy" (WBGU 2011: 1). As a consequence, science and research must play a key role in overcoming environmental, economic, and social challenges and become agents of change:
Transformative research concretely supports transformation processes by finding so-lutions as well as developing technical and social innovations. This includes dissemi-nation processes in business and society as well as opportunities to accelerate them and requires, at least in parts, systemic, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary ap-proaches, including the participation of stakeholders.
WBGU 2011: 342f.
Understanding complex social transformation processes of energy, transport, production, and agricultural systems etc. using proven scientific methods such as observation and modeling, as well as from the perspective of individual disciplines, quickly reaches its limits. Scientists conducting transformative research enter into the processes of change under investigation in an experimental way; they help to shape these processes. The joint research of scientists from different disciplines (interdisciplinarity) and in cooperation with non-academic stakeholders (transdisciplinarity) is a prerequisite for this. Methodologically, transformative science draws from transdisciplinary sustainability research, participatory action research, field research, intervention research, and also transition research. These research approaches are combined and further developed in the concept of the Real-World Laboratory.
“The transition toward a sustainable future in our cities presents a variety of challenges. In addressing these challenges, established planning approaches and role models have proven to be inadequate. We need to realign urban planning and urban design practices. Real-World Laboratories can open up spatial and intellectual room for maneuver.”
Real-World Laboratory as a research approach
Real-World Laboratories are defined as "scientifically constructed spaces of collaborative sustainability research of an interventional character" (WBGU 2016: 542, TATuP main topic 2016). These "joint research workshops" address a real-world problem. They create not only system knowledge about structures, processes, etc., but also target knowledge in the form of visions, mission statements, scenarios of a desirable future as well as evidence-based transformation knowledge anchored in social reality for sustainable change. This knowledge constitutes a kind of instruction for action on how to get from the current state to the target state (ProClim- 19982:15ff).
Experimenting in a Real-World Laboratory
Real-world experiments are used as a central method of understanding and shaping. Following the experimental turn in the social and economic sciences, the term "laboratory" is transferred to the analysis of social and political processes. While a science laboratory provides a controlled framework of knowledge generation, real-world experiments take place in everyday reality – such as cities, quarters, university campuses, companies, etc. – and can be controlled only to a limited extent. "Real-World Laboratories provide a concrete temporal and geographic location as a home" of the real-world experiments. Specific processes of change are catalyzed here in order to gain scalable and transferable knowledge (Schäpke et al. 2017: 5, 50). In this way, socially robust knowledge is to be created – knowledge that is both compatible with the academic debate and provides orientation for the actions of non-academic stakeholders on the ground (De Flander et al. 2014). At the same time, the scientists in the Real-World Laboratory actively contribute to the effective implementation of knowledge.
"The Real-World Laboratory is an experimental space in the midst of our complex living environment. It aims at reflecting on ingrained behavioral routines and trying out new practices of action, which are necessary in view of the planetary boundaries. A Real-World Laboratory addresses the question of how we can move from the knowledge about the major challenges of our time to truly sustainable action. To this end, stakeholders from the different sectors are working together on formats of research and reflection. The co-design of real-world experiments is a central element of this process."
In addition to this dual objective – producing knowledge for change (research goals) and initiating transformation processes (goals in practice) – the Real-World Laboratory also pursues educational goals (Beecroft et al. 2018: 78, 82f; Schneidewind, Singer-Brodowski 2015, Beecroft 2020). Within the framework of the Real-World Laboratory projects, courses are organized that promote explorative, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary learning and research among students. Furthermore, a Real-World Laboratory provides “a supportive, safe framework for information, exchange, cooperation, and intervention as well as for evaluation and reflection. Creating this sort of leeway enables educational processes among the actors involved, regardless of whether this is done explicitly with the goal of education” (Beecroft et al. 2018, 83).
Real-World Laboratories in Baden-Württemberg
The state of Baden-Württemberg is promoting research and education to support the transformation and adopted the barely-tested format early on. On the recommendation of the expert commission and within the framework of the program “Strengthening the Contribution of Science for a Sustainable Development” (Ministry for Science Research and Art 2013), Real-World Laboratories have been used as a tool of research and transformation since 2015 (Wagner, Grunwald 2015, 2019). The call for tender in several funding programs by the Ministry for Science led to the dissemination of the idea of Real-World Laboratories and to the establishment of this approach at the universities (GAIA Special Issue 2018).