A living lab is a method for open innovation, cooperating with various stakeholders, and testing in a real-life environment. It is a widely adopted research and innovation method across the globe. While establishing a living lab is as important and challenging as its implementation, few studies deal with the set-up stage of living labs. Through literature reviews, a niche is identified in terms of the challenges during the establishing stage of a living lab with two research questions; (1) What are the challenges of establishing a living lab? (2) What role can designers take in establishing a living lab? To address these questions, an in-depth case study is conducted with a single ongoing case focusing on an attempt to establish a living lab as 4Ps(Public-Private-People Partnership) for mobility issues in rural-urban fringe areas from Ulju-gun, Ulsan.
This thesis explores how a design and research laboratory in a science and technology institute in Korea adopts an appropriate conceptualization of mobility living lab with the aim of contributing to carbon neutrality in rural-urban fringe areas. The study follows seven meetings and a workshop with 14 participants. This single case study identifies key moments during the ongoing process from March 2022. In doing so, it aims to chart the unique opportunities and challenges that emerge during establishing a living lab by uncovering how the interests of these actors become apparent, clash, or get harmonized through inductive thematic analysis of qualitative data. This study provides access to hard-to-reach data that will help understand the underlying innovation mechanism of living labs and build fruitful relationships with various stakeholders during the establishing stage of living labs.