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Paper short abstract

How can we account for aesthetic and embodied forms of knowing within research and policy frameworks? My research looks into the relational aspects of living labs by noticing aesthetic, embodied, spatial, temporal, and more-than-human ways of knowing at an ‘impulse lab’ in Vienna.

Paper long abstract

As knowledge in Living Labs often emerges through aesthetic and embodied practices, it raises key STS questions about expertise and governance of science – technology – society relations. A central concern to my research is how diverse forms of knowing can be accounted for within research and policy frameworks. From a feminist STS perspective, it thus becomes important to look for points of intervention and ways of living together well.

The discourse on Living Labs has expanded in recent years, as have the interpretations of their characteristics. While some scholars highlight persistent issues of temporality, governance, and continuity (Hossain et al., 2019), others explore how these very challenges contribute to the experimental character of Living Labs and describe them as ‘constitutive tensions’ (Schikowitz et al., 2023).

My empirical analysis focuses on aesthetic, embodied, spatial, temporal, and more-than-human knowledges (Davies et al., 2012; Mattozzi & Parolin, 2021) at an ‘impulse lab’ in Vienna. Spatially located in a warehouse scheduled for demolition, the Nordbahnhalle was a collective experimentation initiated by architects and urban planners from the Technical University of Vienna, activated and maintained by the Halle’s many residents. Researchers, students, artists and small business owners among others share their ‘impulse lab’ experiences and tell a good story about the relational arrangements that enable some social groups, embodied activities, and attachments while constraining others (Star & Ruhleder, 1996; Farías & Blok, 2017; Marres, 2007.)