Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Perspective
  • Published:

The future of urban experimentation through ten critical lessons from decades of practice

Nature Cities volume 3, pages 210–217 (2026)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Since the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, the signing of the Paris Agreement, the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, and the New Urban Agenda, there has been a major growth of urban involvement in addressing sustainability challenges. This has sparked a thriving era for city governments around the world to engage with urban experimentation that aims to enable transformations towards low-carbon and more resilient, just and sustainable cities. Reflecting on insights from eight databases covering close to two thousand urban experiments, here we provide ten critical lessons about urban experimentation across three themes: key processes, politics and governance, and impact. We end with a call to action to empower and embed urban experimentation as an enduring governance practice, to develop whole-of-systems approaches across sectors, places and policy silos, and to design relational and institutional infrastructures that ensure continuous and reflexive approaches to the monitoring and evaluation of urban experimentation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Heatmap of the geographical location of urban experiments in the eight databases.
The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.
Fig. 2: Ten lessons from two decades of urban experimentation.
The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Sengers, F. & Raven, R. P. J. M. Towards a spatial perspective on niche development: the case of bus rapid transit. Environ. Innov. Soc. Trans. 17, 166–182 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Hansen, U. E. & Nygaard, I. Transnational linkages and sustainable transitions in emerging countries: exploring the role of donor interventions in niche development. Environ. Innov. Soc. Trans. 8, 1–19 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. von Wirth, T., Fuenfschilling, L., Frantzeskaki, N. & Coenen, L. Impacts of Urban Living Labs on sustainability transitions: mechanisms and strategies for systemic change through experimentation. Eur. Plan. Stud. 27, 229–257 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Sharp, D. & Raven, R. Urban planning by experiment at precinct scale: embracing complexity, ambiguity and multiplicity. Urban Plan. 6, 195–207 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Sengers, F., Wieczorek, A. J. & Raven, R. Experimenting for sustainability transitions: a systematic literature review. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Change 145, 153–164 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Voytenko Palgan, Y., McCormick, K., Evans, J. & Schliwa, G. Urban Living Labs for sustainability and low carbon cities in Europe: towards a research agenda. J. Clean. Prod. 123, 45–54 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Marvin, S., Bulkeley, H., Mai, L., McCormick, K. & Palgan, Y. V. (eds) Urban Living Labs: Experimenting with City Futures (Routledge, 2018).

  8. Evans, J. et al. Smart and sustainable cities? Pipedreams, practicalities and possibilities. Local Environ. 24, 557–564 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Mora, L. et al. Confronting the smart city governance challenge. Nat. Cities 2, 110–113 (2025).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. McCormick, K., Evans, J., Voytenko Palgan, Y. & Frantzeskaki, N. A Research Agenda for Sustainable Cities (Edward Elgar, 2023).

  11. Bai, X., Roberts, B. & Chen, J. Urban sustainability experiments in Asia: patterns and pathways. Environ. Sci. Policy 13, 312–325 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Farrelly, M. & Brown, R. Rethinking urban water management: experimentation as a way forward? Global Environ. Change 21, 721–732 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. McCormick, K. et al. Urban Nature: New Directions for City Futures (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2024).

  14. Bulkeley, H. & Castán Broto, V. Government by experiment? Global cities and the governing of climate change. Trans. Inst. Br. Geogr. 38, 361–375 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Bulkeley, H. et al. Urban living laboratories: conducting the experimental city?. Eur. Urban Reg. Stud. 26, 317–335 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Nielsen, J. & Farrelly, M. A. Conceptualising the built environment to inform sustainable urban transitions. Environ. Innov. Soc. Trans. 10.1016/j.eist.2019.07.001 (2019).

  17. Novalia, W., Farrelly, M. & Raven, R. Place-based and sectoral patterns in urban experimentation: implications for deep transitions research. Environ. Innov. Soc. Trans. 53, 100922 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Voytenko Palgan, Y., McCormick, K. & Evans, J. in Urban Living Labs (eds Marvin, S. et al.) Ch. 2 (Routledge, 2018).

  19. Newig, J., Challies, E., Jager, N. W., Kochskaemper, E. & Adzersen, A. The environmental performance of participatory and collaborative governance: a framework of causal mechanisms. Policy Stud. J. 46, 269–297 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Frantzeskaki, N. et al. Premises, practices and politics of co-creation for urban sustainability transitions. Urban Transform. 7, 7 (2025).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Bulkeley, H. & Mol, A. P. G. Participation and environmental governance: consensus, ambivalence and debate. Environ. Values 12, 143–154 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Menny, M., Voytenko Palgan, Y. & McCormick, K. Urban Living Labs and the role of users in co-creation. GAIA 27, 68–77 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Sadovska, V., Mont, O. & Voytenko Palgan, Y. in Urban Sharing: Sustainability and Institutionalisation (ed. Mont, O.) Ch. 7 (Edward Elgar, 2025).

  24. Smith, A. & Raven, R. What is protective space? Reconsidering niches in transitions to sustainability. Res. Policy 41, 1025–1036 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Karvonen, A., Evans, J. & van Heur, B. in After Sustainable Cities? (eds Karvonen, A. et al.) 104–115 (Routledge, 2014).

  26. Edwards, G. A. S. & Bulkeley, H. Heterotopia and the urban politics of climate change experimentation. Environ. Plann. D Soc. Space 10.1177/0263775817747885 (2017).

  27. Parnell, S. & Robinson, J. (Re)theorizing cities from the Global South: looking beyond neoliberalism. Urban Geogr. 33, 593–617 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Nagendra, H., Bai, X., Brondizio, E. S. & Lwasa, S. The urban south and the predicament of global sustainability. Nat. Sustain. 1, 341–349 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. UN DESA. World Population Prospects 2024: Summary of Results (United Nations, 2025).

  30. Raven, R. et al. Unpacking sustainabilities in diverse transition contexts: solar photovoltaic and urban mobility experiments in India and Thailand. Sustain. Sci. 12, 579–596 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Peng, Y. & Bai, X. Experimenting towards a low-carbon city: policy evolution and nested structure of innovation. J. Clean. Prod. 174, 201–212 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Montero, S., Whitney, R. A. & Peñaranda, I. Experimental urban planning: tensions behind the proliferation of urban laboratories in Latin America. Plan. Theory Pract. 24, 473–488 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Irazábal, C. & Jirón, P. Latin American smart cities: between worlding infatuation and crawling provincialising. Urban Stud. 58, 507–534 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Côté-Roy, L. & Moser, S. ‘Does Africa not deserve shiny new cities?’ The power of seductive rhetoric around new cities in Africa. Urban Stud. 56, 2391–2407 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Wang, S., Bai, X., Van Der Heijden, J. & Tong, X. Catalyzing changes on the ground and up: evidence from 106 ENGOs in community waste management in China. npj Urban Sustain. 5, 5 (2025).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Peng, Y., Wei, Y. & Bai, X. Scaling urban sustainability experiments: contextualization as an innovation. J. Clean. Prod. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.061 (2019).

  37. Wieczorek, A. J., Raven, R. & Berkhout, F. Transnational linkages in sustainability experiments: a typology and the case of solar photovoltaic energy in India. Environ. Innov. Soc. Trans. 17, 149–165 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Naber, R., Raven, R., Kouw, M. & Dassen, T. Scaling up sustainable energy innovations. Energy Policy 110, 342–354 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Dignum, M., Dorst, H., Van Schie, M., Dassen, T. & Raven, R. Nurturing nature: exploring socio-spatial conditions for urban experimentation. Environ. Innov. Soc. Trans. 34, 7–25 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. van Dijk, J. G. W., Wieczorek, A. J. & Ligtvoet, A. Regional capacity to govern the energy transition: the case of two Dutch energy regions. Environ. Innov. Soc. Trans. 44, 92–109 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Lam, D. P. M. et al. Scaling the impact of sustainability initiatives: a typology of amplification processes. Urban Transform. 2, 3 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Xie, L., Bulkeley, H. & Tozer, L. Mainstreaming sustainable innovation: unlocking the potential of nature-based solutions for climate change and biodiversity. Environ. Sci. Policy 132, 119–130 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Dorst, H. et al. What’s behind the barriers? Uncovering structural conditions working against urban nature-based solutions. Landsc. Urban Plan. 220, 104335 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Tozer, L. et al. Nature for resilience? The politics of governing urban nature. Ann. Am. Assoc. Geogr. 113, 599–615 (2023).

    Google Scholar 

  45. Hodson, M., Geels, F. & McMeekin, A. Reconfiguring urban sustainability transitions, analysing multiplicity. Sustainability 9, 299 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Torrens, J., Schot, J., Raven, R. & Johnstone, P. Seedbeds, harbours and battlegrounds: on the origins of favourable environments for urban experimentation with sustainability. Environ. Innov. Soc. Trans. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2018.11.003 (2018).

  47. Burch, S. et al. Building urban resilience through sustainability-oriented small- and medium-sized enterprises. Urban Transform. 4, 12 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Torrens, J. & von Wirth, T. Experimentation or projectification of urban change? A critical appraisal and three steps forward. Urban Transform. 3, 8 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Mont, O. (ed.). Understanding the Urban Sharing Economy (Edward Elgar, 2025).

  50. Mukhtar-Landgren, D., Kronsell, A., Voytenko Palgan, Y. & von Wirth, T. Municipalities as enablers in urban experimentation. J. Environ. Policy Plan. 21, 718–733 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Raven, R. et al. Urban experimentation and institutional arrangements. Eur. Plan. Stud. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2017.1393047 (2019).

  52. Voytenko Palgan, Y. & Mont, O. in Urban Sharing: Sustainability and Institutionalisation (ed. Mont, O.) Ch. 9 (Edward Elgar, 2025).

  53. Voytenko Palgan, Y., Mont, O. & Sulkakoski, S. Governing the sharing economy: towards a comprehensive analytical framework of municipal governance. Cities 108, 102994 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Zimmermann, K. & Voytenko Palgan, Y. Upscaling cargo bike sharing in cities: a comparative case study. J. Clean. Prod. 477, 143774 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Bulkeley, H. et al. Urban Living Labs: governing urban sustainability transitions. Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain. 22, 13–17 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Hodson, M., Marvin, S. & Bulkeley, H. The intermediary organisation of low carbon cities: a comparative analysis of transitions in Greater London and Greater Manchester. Urban Stud. 50, 1403–1422 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Munck af Rosenschöld, J. Inducing institutional change through projects? Three models of projectified governance. J. Environ. Plann. Policy Manage. 21, 333–344 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Ehnert, F. et al. The acceleration of urban sustainability transitions: a comparison of Brighton, Budapest, Dresden, Genk and Stockholm. Sustainability 10, 612 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Munck af Rosenschöld, J. M. & Kuokkanen, K. in Future Public Governance and Global Crises (eds Pekkola, E. et al.) 57–70 (Edward Elgar, 2025).

  60. Torrens, J., Johnstone, P. & Schot, J. Unpacking the formation of favourable environments for urban experimentation: the case of the Bristol energy scene. Sustainability 10, 879 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Bulkeley, H. The condition of urban climate experimentation. Sustain. Sci. Pract. Policy 19, 2188726 (2023).

    Google Scholar 

  62. Castán Broto, V. & Bulkeley, H. A survey of urban climate change experiments in 100 cities. Glob. Environ. Change 23, 92–102 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  63. Hommels, A. Studying obduracy in the city: toward a productive fusion between technology studies and urban studies. Sci. Technol. Hum. Values 30, 323–351 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. Agathangelou, A. M. Time, transition and planetary decolonial justice as invention. Environ. Politics 33, 1265–1285 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  65. van der Jagt, A. P. N., Kiss, B., Hirose, S. & Takahashi, W. Nature-based solutions or debacles? The politics of reflexive governance for sustainable and just cities. Front. Sustain. Cities 2, 583833 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the following funding sources and projects: GUST project (JPI Urban Europe); NATURVATION project (Horizon Europe, GA730243); Naturescapes project (Horizon Europe, GA101084341); MUM project (Swedish Energy Agency); BUS project (Swedish Energy Agency); TRANSFORM project (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council in Canada); TRACY project (Australian Research Council, DP210100571); Urban Sharing project (European Research Council, GA771872); Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship Grant FL230100021; CULTIVATE project (Horizon Europe, GA101083377); SURFIT project (DUT/JPI Urban Europe).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Monash Business School, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Rob Raven & Wikke Novalia

  2. Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Rob Raven & Harriet Bulkeley

  3. Faculty of Business and Law, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Timo von Wirth

  4. Dutch Research Institute for Transitions, Erasmus Universty Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Timo von Wirth

  5. Center for Sustainability Transitions, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    Timo von Wirth

  6. Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Xuemei Bai

  7. Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham, UK

    Harriet Bulkeley

  8. School of Social Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Megan Farrelly

  9. Department of People and Society, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

    Kes McCormick

  10. International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Kes McCormick & Yuliya Voytenko Palgan

  11. Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Anna Wieczorek

Authors
  1. Rob Raven
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Timo von Wirth
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Xuemei Bai
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Harriet Bulkeley
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Megan Farrelly
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Kes McCormick
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Wikke Novalia
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Yuliya Voytenko Palgan
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Anna Wieczorek
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

R.R., T.v.W., X.B., H.B., M.F., K.M., W.N., Y.V.P. and A.W. analyzed the data. R.R., T.v.W., X.B., H.B., M.F., K.M., W.N., Y.V.P. and A.W. conceived and designed the experiments. R.R., T.v.W., X.B., H.B., M.F., K.M., W.N., Y.V.P. and A.W. contributed materials and/or analysis tools. R.R., T.v.W., X.B., H.B., M.F., K.M., W.N., Y.V.P. and A.W. performed the experiments. R.R., T.v.W., X.B., H.B., M.F., K.M., W.N., Y.V.P. and A.W. wrote the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rob Raven.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Cities thanks Luca Bertolini and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Raven, R., von Wirth, T., Bai, X. et al. The future of urban experimentation through ten critical lessons from decades of practice. Nat Cities 3, 210–217 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-026-00398-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-026-00398-z

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing