Real Laboratories – A theorisation of an urbanist scientific approach based on practice examples in Brazil and Germany

Real-world laboratories (RWLs) have established themselves as an important approach in recent years within the scientific community concerned with (technological, urban planning, etc.) innovations. The RWL approach stands for transdisciplinarity, participation, and democracy. It is designed to solve practical problems and is primarily applied in sustainability research. In recent years, it has been implemented in various government programs that focus on best-practice examples. This approach prioritizes practical impact over scientific validity, which can therefore only be assessed qualitatively, not quantitatively. The present project pursues two main objectives: First, to identify objective evaluation criteria for Real-World Laboratories that specifically capture their impact; and second, to develop criteria based on a detailed analysis of ten RWLs in Brazil and Germany (5/5) and their evaluation processes. These criteria are intended to ensure the universal applicability and verifiability of RWLs.