radarq.net

The City as Lab: 21 Metropoles Prepare to Prototype - Cities - GOOD

Ok, everything is turning into “smart”, but ¿living labs? 

(…) the winners for all 21 LLGA cities were announced at LLGA’s summit in Rio de Janeiro. A total of 555 solutions from 50 countries were submitted from contractors, 109 of which—about five per city—were culled for a shortlist in March before a panel of jurors selected the winners. “The winners will now have the opportunity to implement their solutions in real-life, and work together with stakeholders in the 21 partner cities to prove their impact,” Living Labs Global co-founder Sascha Haselmayer announced at the event.

The competition is built around “the simple idea that cities should be laboratories for technologies,” Haselmayer says. Testing and implementing solutions to problems like traffic, affordable housing, and internet access shouldn’t have to be a hugely expensive, top-down affair, he says. City leaders are often unwilling to collaborate and translate a successful idea from one place into the context of their own town—a problem LLGA is designed to counter. “Let’s prototype more in cities, lets pilot more. Let’s not think everything has to be huge—but things could be more agile.”

The City as Lab: 21 Metropoles Prepare to Prototype - Cities - GOOD

Note: bolds are mine.