Urban Living Lab As A Design and Planning Method For Smarter Cultural Tourism-led Urban Regeneration

LIDE LI M.Phil. in Architecture and Urban Design This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the MPhil examination in Architecture & Urban Design Word Count: 14,558 Words *The word count is including footnotes but excluding bibliography, acknowledgement and table of contents

Beyond Tourism

URBAN LIVING LAB AS A DESIGN AND PLANNING METHOD FOR SMARTER CULTURAL TOURISM-LED URBAN REGENERATION IN CHINA

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ABBREVIATIONS:

UNWTO | MRP | SC | LL | ULL |

NICE 2035 | DU | MWG | QD | MCTD | NDIC | STC | SEU | NJU |

United Nation World Tourism Organization Micro-Rehabilitation Plan (weigaizao) Smart City Living Lab Urban Living Lab If not specifically indicated, Urban Labs, Urban Living Labs refer to the same thing in this dissertation Neighbourhood of Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship towards 2035 Design Universe Menxi Watchmen Group Qinhuai District Municipal Culture and Tourism Department Nanjing Design and Innovation Center Shuang Tang Community Southeast University Nanjing University

联合国世界旅游组织 微改造 智慧城市 生活实验室 城市生活实验室

NICE-2035未来生活原型街 设计寰宇 门西守望者 秦淮区 市文旅局 南京创意设计中心 双塘区 东南大学 南京大学

First page calligraphy: ‘Take Care Of Menxi Area’ Source: Zerong, Menxi Watchman Group, 2021 *This work is prepared for viewing digitally in Two Page View mode

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The intended topic for this research was culture and tourism product innovation in Eco-tourism destinations in Sandakan, Malaysia. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, access to Malaysia was limited, forcing the cancellation of my original plans to visit Sandakan and learn from local Living lab practices. China was instead selected as the research site due to greater access to more resources and key stakeholders. The change of the topic left me with limited time and resources. Thus, I am incredibly thankful to those who gave me support and assistance to let me go through the pain of changing the topic and reestablish research direction.

Firstly, I would like to thank my course director Ms. Ingrid Schröder and my supervisor, Dr. Felipe Hernandez, who kindly provided me with support and reassurance when the research topic was forced to change. Then I would like to show my appreciation for my design tutors, James Pockson and Conrad Koslowsky, for all the suggestions I was given to develop the speculative pilot project even though the project is not shown in this dissertation because of the site change.

I am very grateful for Dr. Andong Lu at Nanjing University, who guided me through the research of this project during my fieldwork. Also, I would like to thank all the organizations that are willing to let me stay and do observation, including (1)DesignUniverse, (2)Tongji NICE 2035 Living Line, (2)Digua community, and (4)Box Community. They kindly shared their spatial and operational situation and visions through interviews. I also should thank Minister Jin, Minister JI, and Sir Dai for their willingness to provide me with their opinions about Living Labs in China and connections. This dissertation could not get such detailed insights if it were not for them. They provided me with the material to cook with and complete my dissertation.

Finally, I would like to thank my family, Yifu Liu, Diancong Liu, Weixuan He, Zizheng Wu, Huiwen Shi, Zheng Zhou, Tarun Shah, Peter Adolfsson, and Barton Road flatmates, for their company and support during the Covid-19.

They helped me maintain good mental health to keep myself devoted to the dissertation. *This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except where specifically indicated in the text

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Table of Contents Introduction

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1 | Understanding Tourism Destination Development in China

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2 | Situating the Living Lab in China

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3 | Using Living Lab to take Destinations to the next level

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4 | Living Lab as a New Paradigm for Tourism Destination Design in China 38 5 | Tourism-led urban regeneration: Laochengnan as an example

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6 | Menxi: The Last Part of Laochengnan

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7 | Hypothesis: Tourism Destination Planning through Urban Labs

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Conclusions

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Bibliography

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Image List

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INTRODUCTION

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From the rural to the central parts of metropolises, many regions have acquired new economic, social, and cultural functions while being transformed into tourism destinations (Calzada, 2019). As the capital of ten Chinese dynasties, Nanjing, the Creative City of Literature, is no exception. The Laochengnan area (old city south, literally translated) of Nanjing is rich in historical and cultural resources and identified by many as the cultural root of the city. These neighborhoods have become critical targets for urban renewal under the Qinhuai district government redevelopment plan since 2006. The district government planned to transform the area into a high-end tourist destination with commercial streets and luxurious residential areas to accommodate middle-class consumers and tourists. Such entrepreneurial plans triggered widespread and intense tensions among developers, residents, and academics (Chen et al., 2020). Local cultural activists, national cultural elites, the central government, and residents raised doubts about this approach. Two battles to defend Laochengnan were launched in 2006 and 2009. Residents’ protests reflected the unique spirit of the place (Hu, 2015) and the strong sense of community in Laochengnan. With the intervention of the mass media, these acts of protest became a public event with considerable national influence. This eventually caused the local government to change its decision in 2010 (Bai, 2018).

Recently, there has been renewed interest in keeping the everydayness of the tourism destinations in China through placemaking and community building initiatives. In the context of the country’s Stock-Based Planning and Micro Regeneration Plan, the idea of historical conservation is being increasingly favored over growth-oriented urban development with a shift in the planning mechanism. A consensus has formed around the ‘Small-scale, gradual’ micro regeneration model as a necessary choice for redevelopment. Despite many discussions on how to regenerate old parts of the city spatially, literature has shown that residents are still deprived of the ‘right to envision the city’ (Hu, 2020). This is largely because local residents are usually required to relocate in order to develop a tourism destination. They are still in the consumption end (back end) of the redevelopment process and excluded from the production of innovation that occurs in the creative industry and tourism industry.

However, few scholars have been able to draw on any systematic research into a methodological framework for participatory redevelopment by using the concept of ‘Urban Labs.’ In order to avoid excessive ‘touristification’ led by the growth-oriented model of redevelopment, a form of a community conservation organization is very much needed in contemporary China.

This community conservation organization encourages the participation of residents in the placemaking and innovating process to bring back the everydayness of urban life.

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Existing research recognizes the critical role of Urban Labs in promoting multi-stakeholders’ participation and tackling wicked problems in the real-world context. Meanwhile, the Living Lab concept has been a hot topic for technology-enabled and innovative urban development in the European context since 2006. One of the most well-known tools for assessing the value of the topic is a literature review. There is a growing body of literature that indicates that Living Labs can help build locality and, thus, increase the attractiveness of tourism destinations. However, the further categorization of the connection between Urban Living Labs and Cultural Tourism-led Urban regeneration revealed how the literature concerning the Chinese is still scarce. The mechanisms underpinning Living Labs in China are not fully understood, and their spatial design remains unguided.

Based on a thorough literature review, the following hypothesis is proposed: design-driven co-creation and social innovation interventions like Living Lab can be the innovation engines for tourism destinations in helping co-create creative and tourism products. Driven by this hypothesis, this thesis attempts to answer the following questions: 1. What is an Urban Living Lab (ULL) as a design and planning method? And why is it important in the Chinese cultural-tourism-led urban regeneration?

2. What are the current cases of Living Labs in China? And what are the spatial, systematic, and social changes they bring to the local community?

3. How can the ULL work as a new mechanism for cultural tourism-led urban regeneration? And what is a potential action guide?

Since the Living Lab in China is still in its infancy phase, a case-study approach was used to examine what types of spaces a Living Lab would need in the Chinese context and its subsequent impact on urban regeneration. On-site interviews or participant observation were conducted in four different Living Labs: the DesignUniverse, NICE2035(a certified Living Lab organization), Digua community, and Box community. For instance, stakeholders of the NICE2035 project were tracked from concept to implementation through participant observation over three months. The analysis focused on localized regeneration explorations of resident empowerment. Qualitative data was collected from two sources: on-site activity preparation, and participation and structured interviews with professors, doctoral students, and local hosts. Through these two methods, the participation motivations, co-creation modes, and reorganization of the community’s stock resources for business prototype testing were investigated. However, since there is only one certified Living Lab organization in China, which is NICE2035, the cases taken are based on the defining characteristics from the western literature.

Admittedly, there will be some biases.

Given that this project is both research and design-driven, the Nanjing Menxi area was used as a case study to conceive a social innovation intervention

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based on the Living Labs method. The Menxi area of Nanjing is frequently referred to as the last part of Laochengnan. In an era when the Chinese government is pursuing new methods of community self-governance and working towards building smart cities, the Living Lab has great potential to facilitate these transformations. The extensive participation of the stakeholder framework is applied to tourism practices and policies to help the Menxi residents better express their visions and help with cultural tourism product creation. This dissertation attempts to use this case to demonstrate how to adapt and localize the Living Lab concept in China, and the best way to learn from it.

One limitation in designing the research is that the proposal is suspended over the physical site, and therefore, not in real practice. Thus, multiple sources and methods were used to gain deeper insight into stakeholders’ collaboration methods, motivations, and applications of such a design project. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 actors. Of these, six were policymakers or managers who were employed at the site or worked for the local government and were regularly involved in the site. This included the Minister of municipal-level departments for culture and tourism and the Minister of district-level departments for culture and tourism. Among the other interviewees, two were students from the Southeast University Design Team of the region, four were students from the Nanjing University Place-making Team of the area, one was from the Nanjing Design and Innovation Center organization, and five were from the Menxi Watchman Group.

In existing studies, many researchers have utilized Action Research to measure and assess the implementation and impact of a living lab. This dissertation originally intended to initiate activities with LanD Studio, a Nanjing University-based studio, to measure the possibility of the lab. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the scheduled activities were postponed.

This made it challenging for the researcher to observe the local people’s responses towards the lab.

This dissertation is organized into seven chapters, beginning with a literature review. The relevant literature is mainly related to two fields: one is to examine the history and development of cultural tourism-led urban regeneration in China, indicating that a mechanism of innovation was highly needed in order to provide new blood into the culture and tourism industries(Chapter one); and the other is to observe the birth and practices of the ULL across the world, and to highlight the near absence of this discussion in the Chinese context(Chapter two).

Chapter three begins by laying out the theoretical dimensions of the associations between Living Labs and cultural tourism development, and then looks at new trends in China that take place in destinations capable of cultivating a living lab’s development.

Chapter four analyzes the findings from the interviews and the observations conducted during the researcher’s fieldwork. Four important cases

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were used in an empirical study to make sense of the spatial interventions behind Living Labs by analyzing their physical, social, and media influence on the local area. It is found that although those ULLs are geographically, culturally, and structurally different, they have in common an aim to foster urban sustainability with a focus on social innovation.

Conclusions from the dissertation are further discussed through a design proposal in the context of Nanjing’s Menxi area in chapters five, six, and seven. Chapter five provides a background study of urban regeneration in Nanjing and the current situation in the Menxi area. Chapter six showcases data gathered via interviews with 15 stakeholders and from in-field drawing and multiple rounds of mapping in the Menxi Area. Chapter seven is a potential design action proposal that includes an Urban Lab for regenerative destination development.

The originality of this dissertation lies in that it investigated and analyzed the emerging Living Labs practices in China, which have been widely understudied. This dissertation’s design activities and conclusions also provide guidance for the novel application of Living Lab practices for cultural tourism-led urban regeneration. The findings from this dissertation also contribute to the field of urban regeneration, and it furthers the understanding of processes of cultural tourism-led urban regeneration by providing a contextual paradigm. Finally, this research aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of not only Living Labs, but also the concepts of smart cities and sustainable tourism destination development in China.

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UNDERSTANDING TOURISM DESTINATION DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA 14

1.1 TOURISM DESTINATION AND DEVELOPMENT Undoubtedly, the tourism industry plays a vital role in regional development. However, opinions vary regarding how tourism works as a tool for development. Much of the literature since the mid-1990s emphasizes that the tourism sector can not only help destinations increase local revenue by generating job opportunities, but also spur investment in local infrastructure, human capital, and technology (Shahzad et al., 2017). However, as tourism expanded, researchers found that significant economic contributions were lauded. More recent literature, however, has paid its attention on the negative impacts of tourism, such as bringing only low-wage job opportunities and limited impact on a community’s economic growth, as well as pollution to the local environment1.

These negative results also happen in Chinese Tourism Destinations. Sun and Fu (2018) indicated that state-owned or big real estate developers take control of most tourism development, leaving almost no room for locals to participate by simply relocating them to other parts of the city. Meanwhile, the most criticized tourism model, mass tourism, has been dominant for its convenience and efficiency throughout 1992-2011 in China (Zhao et al., 2020).

The proliferation of mass tourism grew alongside the boom of domestic tourism, and it has had a significant impact on destination development in China. A massive influx of tourists has accelerated the relocation of locals and the commercialization of tourism destinations (Lu, 2020).

Beginning in the 1980s, and as shown in Figure 1.1, niche tourism has diversified the tourism industry by providing travelers with more local and special1 United Nations. (2018). World Urbanization Prospects (The 2018 Revision). https://www.un.org/ development/desa/en/news/population/2018- revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html What Is Ecotourism. (n.d.). The International Ecotourism Society. Retrieved 31 December 2020, from https://ecotourism.org/what-is-ecotourism/ 15

Figure 1.1 Tourism industry’s history Source: author’s own drawing for Essay I-B

ized experiences. With the deindustrialization of urban and rural territories in recent years, branches of niche tourism, including ecotourism, cultural tourism, and heritage tourism, emerged as the tourism market began to split.

This illustrates a shift from mass tourism to more sensible and sustainable tourism, which takes tourism destination development to the next level.

1.2 COMPETITIVENESS OF TOURISM DESTINATIONS A large volume of newly published studies focuses on sustainable tourism destination development, emphasizing the benefits of the locals and its public value. It also focuses on smart tourism destination development, which in turn focuses on bringing ‘smartness’ into destinations. Despite different names, all these developments aim to achieve destination competitiveness with the fundamental promise of its residents’ prosperity (Manyara & Ndivo, 2016). Leung & Baloglu (2013) indicated that the competitiveness of a tourism destination is crucial for a community to position itself better within the global tourism market and ensure a competitive advantage.

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Traditionally, it has been argued that tourism is offering “products” that are the main motivation for developing competitiveness (Heath, 2002.).

Poon (1993) was the first to establish a competitive strategy model that is applicable to the tourism industry. The most commonly seen model, however, is the one developed by Ritchie & Crouch (2000). The authors describe competitiveness as: Ritchie & Crouch, 2000

“...the ability to increase tourism expenditure, to increasingly attract visitors while providing them with satisfying, memorable experiences and to do so in a profitable way while enhancing the well-being of destination residents and preserving the natural capital of the destination for future generations.(Page 2)” In the description, it is clear that scholars began to measure competitiveness in different scales of the tourism destinations.

During the past 30 years, more information has become available on cultural tourism-led urban regeneration. Mckercher & du Cros (2003) defined it as “a form of tourism that relies on a destination’s cultural heritage assets and transforms them into products that tourists can consume.” Placenti (2011) further explained that an urban territory, with a strong cultural identity, is a crucial component of cultural tourism. Numerous previous studies in the literature have investigated the positive effect of cultural-tourism development and urban regeneration upon a collaborative planning scheme by studying recent cases such as the conversion of the Ruhr Region in Germany (Leung et al., 2015), the High Line Park in New York (Giovene di Girasole, 2014: Aitani & Sathaye, 2017), and the city of Bilbao in Spain (Plaza, 2000; Aranburu et al., 2016).

The Chinese government places high value on cultural tourism, which is evidenced by the publishment of ‘Implementation plan of cultural tourism promotion project in the period of the thirteenth five-year plan’, which creates a favorable policy environment for cultural tourism development (Zhao et al., 2020). In this context, several studies have begun to examine how to use tourism as a tool for urban regeneration strategies in China.

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1.3 CULTURAL TOURISM-LED DESTINATION DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA When tracing the history of the Chinese tourism industry, particularly since the iconic Xintiandi project in Shanghai (He & Wu, 2005; Wai, 2006), it can be seen that the development of cultural tourism has experienced multiple changes in the mechanism models, from the Traditional Commercialization Development Model, to the Micro-Regeneration Model (Zhang & Li, 2016), and to the Community Redevelopment Model (Li and Zhu, 2014; Dong, 2017).

The major driving force behind tourism-led regeneration projects is profit-oriented. As observed in many projects, the government and developers’ focus is on the large-scale and modernized physical transformations.

Those destinations are often reduced to places for the pursuit of leisure and tourism-based consumption. Ironically, those places are often blamed for becoming commercialized for mere leisure and tourism-based consumption.

In this type of urban redevelopment, citizens’ opinions were neglected, and social conflicts occurred occasionally.

Take Xintiandi as an example, where He & Wu (2005) argue that destination development is dominated by a top-down planning model. In this model, the government provides financial support for arts and cultural projects using tax credits for charitable contributions, matching grants, and support for specific projects. This type of redevelopment was seen primarily in the 1990-2010 redevelopment practices (Lu, 2020). Clearly, this was the most efficient model with potentially the highest profit. However, it also puts the development at high risk of homogenization with other existing ones, and it risks replacing the site’s original ‘everydayness’ with performativity if not managed properly. Figure 1.2 shows the traditional commercialization development model.

3 2 4 Figure 1.2 Traditional Commercialization Development Model Source: author’s own drawing Figure 1.3 Micro-Regeneration Model Source: author’s own drawing Figure 1.4 Community Redevelopment Model Source: author’s own drawing

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1.3.2 MICRO-REHABILITATION MODEL

One important feature of the recent urban redevelopment policy in China is the promotion of ‘micro-rehabilitation’ (referred to as weigaizao), which has received scant attention. One pilot project is the Yongqingfang in Guangzhou. Zhang and Li (2016) studied the renovation of the Enning Road district in Guangzhou and pointed out that non-government organizations (NGOs) are critical in urban regeneration projects (Zhang & Li, 2016). When taking a deeper look at the Enning Road project, this model achieves the goal of community conservation by keeping the original function of the site. It also encourages the residents to renovate for themselves. However, an apparent weakness of this model is that it lacks a sustainable business model. That is, without funds from the government, it will struggle to be a self-sustaining model. Figure 1.3 shows the Micro-Regeneration Model from (Zhang & Li, 2016).

1.3.3 COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT MODEL

More recent attention has focused on the financing community building in cultural-led urban regenerations. Qiang & Tuohan (2016) applied the Qinghe experiment group in Beijing to illustrate how citizen participation can benefit community renovation. Li and Zhu (2014) established a decision-making model of a responsive subject between government officials and citizens to innovate public participation mechanisms and applied it to the Shanghai Tianzifang regeneration project. Furthermore, Dong & Wang (2017) used comparative cases to emphasize the importance of community empowerment in promoting public participation in urban regeneration projects. However, the literature also shows that citizens have a relatively low level of knowledge regarding urban planning, and it may be difficult for them to persuade others in the participation process, due to a lack of special training and targeted resources. Figure 1.4 shows the Community Redevelopment Model.

1.4 DESIGN AND INNOVATION FOR CULTURAL TOURISM LED DESTINATION IN THE ERA OF ICT: Innovation has been widely pinpointed as a critical factor for hospitality and tourism enterprises, organizations, and destinations (Pikkemaat et al., 2019). Meanwhile, the rapid development of Information and Communication technologies (ICTs) has challenged the traditional tourism development framework by bringing ‘smartness’ into destinations.

China has invested heavily in smart tourism-related projects (Cavalheiro, 2020). The “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for National Tourism Informatization” issued by the National Tourism Administration in 2017 revealed the important role of information technology applications in the development of China’s

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tourism industry, encouraging the integrated development of (mobile) Internet, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, computer simulation, big data, and other technical fields with tourism. Under this policy environment, and in order to meet the increasing demand for tourism quality of tourists, China’s tourism industry was observed to use the power of other industries to help with the innovation process. For example, the technology industry facilitates the development of intelligent and smart tourism. New technology devices, platforms, systems, and infrastructure have continued to shape industry landscapes, stimulating tourism development at an unprecedented rate. The cultural and leisure industries catalyze the diversification and personalization of tourism products. It is undeniable that the development of new technology in the tourism sector will remain a constant theme. However, there has not been any urban regeneration model that considers how to embrace the new trend of smart tourism.

Traditional theories and models of destination management (Laws, 1995; Ritchie & Crouch, 2000), destination governance (Pechlaner et al., 2012), and destination leadership (Beritelli et al., 2014; Pechlaner et al., 2018) have contributed to the advancement of tourism destination research and practice. With technology becoming further infused into our everyday lives, the connection between daily life and travel is tighter than ever, and basically, tourism development has not been the same. In the western context, Living Labs (Cigir, 2018; Calzada, 2019) have been applied to tourism destinations in the face of such trends. Previous studies of tourism development mechanisms and planning strategies in China have not dealt with such new trends, which calls for a new mechanism for Smarter Tourism Destination Development.

Figure 1.5 ICT and Cultural Tourism Destination Development in Nanjing Source: Nanjing Government Website

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LOCATING THE LIVING LAB IN CHINA

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There is a growing recognition that cities face environmental and social problems that are too complex and interconnected to overcome without multi-stakeholder collaboration. This trend requires a new design intervention. This dissertation argues that the ULL, as a designing and planning method, holds the possibility of creating a better urban regeneration model for the sustainable development of cultural and tourism destinations for China.

2.1 GENEALOGY OF URBAN LIVING LABS A Living Lab is a research concept conceived of by the City Science group at MIT in 2006. Their first iteration of a Living Lab was the PlaceLab, a shortterm experimental environment where researchers could observe and test people’s usage of specific products by establishing a data collection system of sensing, monitoring, and tracking equipment, as shown in Figure 2.1.

Researchers later based the idea of Living Labs on the PlaceLab experiment.

The Living Lab is defined not only as a physical environment for testing, but also a “user-centered methodology for prototyping, validating, and refining complex solutions in multiple and evolving real-life contexts”1.

After its inception, the Living Lab quickly gained traction and underwent further evolution as a research and development (R&D) method in Europe.

In 1998, Finnish scholar Niitamo Veli-Pekka came across the concept during a visit to MIT while he was conducting fieldwork. He later applied it to the Nokia Corporation’s cooperation project. This was the first European application of the Living Labs concept. In 2005, many cities, including Barcelona, Helsinki, and Manchester, joined a telecommunications project in Europe called “Information Cities.” Professor William Bill Mitchel, one of the founders of Living Lab from MIT, was engaged as an external expert on this project.

Throughout the project, Mitchel discussed and referred to his experience at MIT. The participating cities in Europe were inspired to form a network to assess this idea’s applicability in an urban context. These applications are the predecessors of the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL), shown 1 Mitchell, Larson, and Pentland in Core Labs (2006), http://www. ami-communities.net/wiki/CORELABS Archived 2006-07-16 at the Wayback Machine.

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in Figure 2.2, initiated by the President of Finland in 2006. Since then, many European countries have tried to use this co-creation method for regional policymaking, social innovation, lifestyle exploration, etc. During this process, the ULL was born.

Unlike the Living Lab, the ULL usually sits in the urban territory, trying to find local solutions to complex global crises, including climate change and energy transition (Steen & van Bueren, 2017). In recent years, the ULL concept has been well accepted and implemented in Europe with the help and funds from ENoLL and respective governments. ENoLL currently has 475 members, as shown in Figure 2.3, and the growth of such an institution has brought more and more industries into the forum in recent years. However, as of 2021, there is only one officially registered Living Lab organization in China, which is located in Tongji University.

2.2 THE EVALUATION OF LIVING LAB CHARACTERISTICS During the above-mentioned birth and expansion process, as shown in Figure 2.4, the definition of a Living Lab has been broadened and enriched with actual practices, and many new characteristics are shown. To distinguish a ULL from a Living Lab, von Wirth et al. (2019) prepared a literature review to define the characteristics of both, as shown in Figure 2.5. As can be seen, a ULL is a Living Lab with an actual physical space embedded in the city, and it also has a mature financing model and an added political dimension (Chronéer et al., 2019).

2.2.1 FROM USER-CENTRIC TO MULTI-STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVEMENT

The main objective of a Living Lab has been to early involve different stakeholders, especially users, on the innovation process. This User-Centric Design Method stemmed from the ICT industry and proved to be beneficial in other industries’ R&D departments as well. At the time, it was defined by many as R&D research (Eriksson et al., 2006). It was found that in practice, the Living Lab includes more stakeholders than solely designers and end-users. As an experimental environment, the Living Lab also stresses an educational purpose by bringing students into this process (Hawk et al., 2012). Living Labs also allow students to understand real-life problems through an active, practical, and reflexive learning experience (Zen, 2017). To systematically understand the stakeholders behind this method of engagement, a Quadruple helix model was first defined (AMS Institute, 2019) to include users, private actors, public actors, and knowledge Institutes. More recently, a Penta helix framework was proposed (Calzada, 2019), including public actors, private actors, academics, civil society organizations, and social entrepreneurs/ activists. In ULLs, the end-user usually refers to citizens, which shows how the establishment of such an institute includes considerations of citizen empowerment.

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Figure 2.1 MIT PlaceLab Retrieved from: http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~tmcleish/Selected%20 Publications/PlaceLab%20Overview.pdf Figure 2.2 European Network of Living Labs Retrieved from: https://openlivinglabs.eu/ Figure 2.6 chronocyclegraph, a tool to study human motion Note: The Five Strands of Living Lab: A Literature Study of the Evolution of Living Lab Concepts in HCI (Alavi, Lalanne, Rogers, 2020)

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2.2.2 FROM ICT TO WICKED PROBLEMS

Furthermore, the final output of a Living Lab has changed from concrete ICT outputs to more intangible values. The first Living Lab, the PlaceLab, focused more on how people used products and spaces, based on the usage of chronocyclegraph, and as shown in Figure 2.3. From there, the Living Lab became an environment to test how technology is given shape in a real-life context (Ballon et al., 2005). With the booming emergence of ULL projects under the influence of EnoLL, the final output is broadened to include the innovation of new services, products, application enhancements (Leminen & Westerlund, 2017), and ICT-based innovations (Schaffers & Kulkki, 2007).

Later, the output was shifted to create something more intangible, such as sustainable values (Schaffers & Kulkki, 2007). It is also perceived that a living lab can lead to innovation and solutions to multi-faceted wicked problems (Heikkanen, 2019).

2.2.3 FROM THE REAL-WORLD CONTEXT TO THE REAL WORLD

One precondition for Living Lab activities is real-world contexts (Chronéer et al., 2019). However, these real-world environments can be simulated environments. It is necessary that in a ULL, real urban contexts are considered important factors to facilitate experimentation about sustainability solutions (Wirth, 2019) and tackle challenges faced by the community (JPI Urban Europe, 2018). Similarity to the real urban environment allows stakeholders to design, test, and learn from the innovations in real-time, which then accelerates the design and adoption of sustainable innovations (von Wirth et al., 2019).

Nevertheless, even with those characteristics, the ULL is still very broad and an abstract concept for planners and decision-makers to know how to apply it as a method to help with the urban design process (AMS Institute, 2019).

Moreover, the scope of the physical space of ULLs has not been well-studied.

2.3 CATEGORIZATION OF URBAN LIVING LAB Recent literature has tried different methods of categorizing ULLs, attempting to find common denominators behind the labs through organizing the existing papers and cases from different perspectives. The Human Computer Interaction researchers (Alavi et al., 2020) looked at a Living Lab through the lens of technology involvement, especially in how it collects data related to people’s behavior, with types that do not include citizen sensing categorized as “Innovation Spaces.” They focused more on the data collection process and sensors’ combination into spaces (Alavi et al., 2020). By looking at cases in the Netherlands, the AMS Institute (2019) tried to use user involvement and the living lab process stage (from research, development, testing, implementation, to commercialization) to categorize ULLs.

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Figure 2.3 The world distribution of EnroLL accredited Living Labs Note: Living Labs for Rural Areas: Contextualization of Living Lab Frameworks, Concepts and Practices(Zavratnik et al., 2019)

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Figure 2.4 The birth and expansion of Living Lab in China and around the world Source: author’s own drawing

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Figure 2.5 Characteristic of an Urban Living Lab and a Living Lab Source: author’s own drawing adapt from Urban Living Labs: A Living Lab Way of Working (Steen & van Bueren, 2017)

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2.4 URBAN LIVING LABS IN CHINA ULL concept is still in its infancy in nations like China. In 2009, the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications explored the Living Lab innovation model in healthcare and elderly care. After that, the Guangdong University of Technology and other colleges and universities started to carry out design teaching activities around the concept of the Living Lab. In 2015, Tongji University was the first to join EnoLL, and it fully applied the Living Lab concept in district redevelopment, urban-rural interaction, and the circular economy.

A series of social innovation activities such as NICE2035 and Design Harvest 2.0 have been established, with NICE2035 being the only registered Living Lab organization in China (Lou & Ma, 2018).

Nevertheless, there has yet to be a theoretical analysis of the establishment and functionality of such practices in China. As a result, this dissertation proposes new opportunities for municipal governments and developers to understand the spatial interventions of such a Living Lab and its impact on the environment around it. By studying cases during fieldwork and looking into locally-based practices, the following chapter studies how a living lab could be built at the community level in China.

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USING LIVING LAB TO TAKE DESTINATIONS TO THE NEXT LEVEL 32

The previous chapter explained the characteristics of the Living Lab. This chapter summarizes several studies that have postulated a convergence between Living Labs and the sustainable development of tourism destinations when considering innovating urban regeneration policies. Barosio et al. (2016) state that three types of policies can be distinguished within an integrated area-based approach (as shown in Figure 3.1): (1) Place-oriented policies that aim to create a better physical environment, (2) people-oriented policies that focus on greater social lives for residents, and (3) organization-oriented policies that look into improving the operation and management system. Borrowing this scheme as a clue to understanding the new urban regeneration mechanism, the literature of Urban Labs in the abovementioned three approaches we investigated.

3.1 PLACE-ORIENTED: LABS AND THE PHYSICAL UPGRADATION OF LOCAL AREAS Many discussions about how the Living Lab has been applied to revitalize vacant third places. According to the AMS Institute (2019), “vacant plots within cities prove to be great options for use as the location for a Living Lab.” Wachter (2021) argues that the Living Lab shares similar characteristics with transnational urbanism theories, such as experimental urbanism and tactical urbanism, because they are also temporary and grassroots-based in third places. By examining four distinct URLs in the cities of Rotterdam, Netherlands; and Malmo, Sweden. Cardullo (2018) studied Living Labs in Dublin, Ireland, where they identified and categorized five initiatives concerning vacancy and gentrification: (1) pop-up initiatives, (2) university-led activities, (3) community-organized venues/activities, (4) citizen sensing and crowdsourcing, and (5) tech-led regeneration initiatives. However, the integration of Living Lab to urban regeneration in China has not been fully understood.

3.2 PEOPLE-ORIENTED: LIVING LABS AND SELF-GOVERNANCE IN DESTINATIONS ULLs can be seen as auxiliaries to encourage citizen participation in promoting smart cities. The smart-city situation in China, however, proves to be more complex.

Kummitha & Crutzen (2019) argue that smart cities can be seen in two ways: a technology- and human-driven approach that promotes a bottom-up way to transform residents’ intelligence into something good, and a top-down way that focuses more on the digitalization of key infrastructures. As observed

by Song and Han (2019), there has been a lack of human-driven methods in China’s smart city promotion, and the development of China’s smart cities has been very much driven by the top-down.

Indeed, smart cities are something that the Chinese government has been pursuing for years. In order to increase the competitiveness of the country,

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Figure 3.1 Classification of urban regeneration policies Note: From urban renewal to urban regeneration: Classification criteria for urban interventions. Turin 1995-2015: Evolution of planning tools and approaches , elaborated by SiTI Figure 3.2 Participatory Design way towards smart city Note: ‘Participatory Design: Ideas, Methods, Practices’, lecture, International Women’s University (IFU), Project Area Information, Hamburg, Germany, July 26, 2000.

the Chinese government has put much money and effort into smart city development. However, it is also important to acknowledge the fact that the Living Lab is a “political being“ that is constantly evolving and transforming.

In other words, it has the ability to influence or even challenge the government’s power in the redevelopment process. In the current planning phase of ULLs in China, residents are usually seen merely as the end-user of designs.

The Chinese government does not trust the ability of residents to regulate themselves. As Geisselmann (2019) suggests, the government is also afraid that increasing space for public participation may open Pandora’s Box of issues and conflicts. For instance, allowing public input may result in a loss of state control and a decrease in potential profits. Lou & Ma (2018), however, challenged this idea and pointed out that Chinese residential community is close to all kinds of problems that people encounter in the city, and thus, is the perfect testbed for new scenarios and solutions. The case of the NICE2035 project promoted by Lou & Ma (2018) demonstrates that the Living Lab is another possible way towards a smart city by putting residents in the design cycle, as illustrated in Figure 3.2. Nevertheless, research on such initiatives’ design and planning strategies is still limited.

3.3 ORGANIZATION-ORIENTED: LABS AND INNOVATION STRATEGIES IN DESTINATIONS Recent studies have shown that Living Labs can enhance the appeal and innovative ability of their surrounding districts. Firstly, several cross-sectional studies suggest that ULLs effectively boost the attractiveness of tourism destinations by engaging local communities and tourists in the innovation process. Pucihar (2014) writes that through Living Labs, “tourist service providers will obtain insight into what tourists want and will have an opportunity to improve and develop new services targeted to different customer segments. (Page2)“ Concerning destination management, ULLs are also found to have the ability to boost the attractiveness of rural areas and agritourism activities in countries like Bulgaria and Canada (Guimont & Lapointe, 2016). Cigir (2018) explored applying the Living Lab model in sustainable and responsible tourism by establishing a new network map.

On top of that, Living Labs can also actively increase the creativity of local areas. Living Labs can act as the ‘open innovation intermediaries’ (Almirall & Wareham, 2011) between firms, public agencies, universities and institutes, and users by sharing information (Leminen & Westerlund, 2017). Through ULLs, citizens can participate in their cities’ design, construction, and management (Kummitha & Crutzen, 2019), as shown in Figure 3.3-.5. However, there is currently no organized data of the spatial, systematic, and social change in which the Living Lab brings to local communities in the Chinese context.

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Figure 3.3 Original diagram by Metahaven as published in Bratton’s The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty (2016) Source: author’s own drawing adapted from Bratton’s The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty(2016) Figure 3.4 Diagram variations by G. Costello. Diagram of the Stack as represented 6-layers deep, multiple activations as “zigzagging” columns from top to bottom layer.

Source: author’s own drawing adapated from G. Costello. Diagram of the Stack Figure 3.5 Diagram variations by G. Costello. Diagram of the Stack, showing user’s powerlessness in the face of digital transformation Source: author’s own drawing adapated from G. Costello. Diagram of the Stack

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LIVING LAB AS A NEW PARADIGM FOR TOURISM DESTINATION DESIGN IN CHINA 38

4.1 CASE ANALYSIS In order to propose how Living Labs can work in tourism destinations in China, a complete case study, listed in Table 4.1, was conducted to study existing Chinese Living Labs and related design-driven social innovation organizations. This dissertation selected Living Lab activities using the defining characteristics proposed by Steen & van Bueren in 2017 (listed in Table 4.2).

Two Living labs and two design-driven social innovations in China we presented to realize what functions and design logic were behind the Labs. How those can help form impacts in the context of a new agent that transforms the space to place and empower the residents was also assessed. By learning from the existing cases, this chapter discusses enabling such initiatives and design for Living Labs in urban regeneration processes. This analysis is based on a collection of project-based research papers, as well as interviews and onsite observations of various Living Lab projects in China, as listed in Table 4.3.

Table 4.1. Steen and van Bueren’s nine defining characteristics of Urban Living Labs (Steen & van Bueren, 2017)

Aspects Aims

Characteristics Aimed at innovation Aimed at formal learning for replication For ULLs: Aimed at increasing urban sustainability

Activities

Development (all phases of the product development process Co-creation Iteration (feedback, evaluation, and improvement) Public actors, private actors, users and knowledge institutes participate in the living lab activities All actors involved have decision-making power The living lab activities take place in the real-life use context of the innovation. In many ULLs, this is a territory or a space-bound

Participants

Context

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Table 4.2 Fieldwork and Interview done by the researchers

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Name

Organization

Registered Living Lab?

If yes, what areas are they innovating in?

Research Type

Jie Zhang

DesignUniverse

Yes

“New fashion”, “commu- Self-participate nity co-creation”, “artificial intelligence and intelligence enhancement”, and “post-epidemic life”

Zhou Lu, Danwen Ji, Yang Liu

NICE 2035

Yes

Sustainability

In-field observation for 3 months, and online activity organization for 3 months

Hongrui Li

Digua Community

No

Community Service provider

In-field interview

Haifeng Du

Box Community

No

Co-Living model

Offline interview, Activity organization

4.1.1 DESIGNUNIVERSE

One of the chosen Living Labs was the DesignUniverse Project in Shanghai.

DesignUniverse was a short-term workshop that used a site that was formerly the Lester School and Henry Lester Institute of Technical Education, shown in Figure 4.1, as its main platform to help launch the “Shanghai Institute of Innovation and Creative Design“ in the North Bund, Shanghai. Its aim was to explore a new model of design innovation education facing the future. This event lasted for only three days, but it has had a long-term impact on the local area and the buildings. In the revitalization process, a renovated lecture hall, Fabrication lab, workshops, a temporary WC, and outdoor scaffolding stages were built to provide room for the Living Lab activity.

4.1.2 NICE2035

The NICE2035 project is a university-led lab and the only registered Living Lab in China. It uses a design partnership model that incorporates the school with government and industry. Tongji University has run the NICE2035 project since 2018. NICE2035 sits near Tongji University in Shanghai. The project aims to use the ground floor of a residential community, shown in Figure 4.2, to drive the transformation towards a new way of living in the future (Lou & Ma, 2018). It is a long-term inhabiting lab in the community with studios and maker spaces to test future living sceneries, as shown in Figure 4.6. The original site was home to chaotic street vendors that have long received complaints from residents for being dirty and noisy (Lou & Ma, 2018). It could be concluded that the building of the NICE2035 project began as a University-led activity that was then combined with new ways of building environmental designs.

Living Labs can also be seen in the community-building practices led by social innovation. Because of these activities, this organization has the function of being a Living Lab, enabling residents to become innovation protagonists, while facilitating collaborative entrepreneurial clusters based on the re-organization of community resources. It usually looks like as shared community spaces with shared spaces, museums, and workshops.

4.1.3 DIGUA COMMUNITY

One of such community-building practice is Digua Community, shown in Figure 4.7. Digua’s vision is to rebuild an idle spaces(mainly underground), as shown in Figure 4.3, into a public space that connects underground immigrants’ residents, which are usually referred to as ‘Ant people’. It ends up attracting more people to the site and re-establishing the link between people within the community. It creatively applied the idea of the ‘prosumer,’ which makes the community member not only the producer but also the consumers. The case here is the Digua community in Chengdu. They co-created the bar and café, and also offer some yoga and English classes in exchange for organizational help and activity spaces.

4.1.4 BOX COMMUNITY

Another example is Box Community, which is a regeneration project that sits

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in the former Vegetable Company Building No. 2 in Xinmen Wenlu District, in the ancient city of Quanzhou. It is a community built on the idea of Co-Living with the modular box model, shown in Figure 4.4, and proposed by architect Shuhei Aoyama. Box Community is suitable for entrepreneurs who have just stepped into society, as well as like-minded friends in foreign cities looking to quickly make new friends and experience the warm city of Quanzhou.

4.2 FINDINGS Based on the qualitative data analysis of the above case studies, the research findings are elaborated below and analyzed through the three aspects discussed in Chapter 3. This will provide an overall analysis of Living Labs as a design and planning method that is Place-Oriented, People-Oriented, and Organization-Oriented.

4.2.1 PLACE-ORIENTED: REACTIVATION IN THIRD PLACES

BY LABS 4.2.1.1 VACANT THIRD PLACE AS THE MAIN BATTLEFIELD In physical up-gradation, urban vacancy is the first target for change. If we map all the up-gradation into one organized diagram, it would be clear that those labs all have the common feature that they are close to the community and tend to use deteriorating third places in the community. There are mainly two forms of occupation. The first is short-term occupation, which is exemplified by the DesignUniverse project. By temporarily inserting scaffolding, as shown in Figure 4.5, and fluid furniture in historical buildings, it promoted the overall protection and repair of the building’s interior decoration (Figure 23) while eliminating existing structural safety hazards. This process also added necessary mechanical and electrical equipment in line with the needs of contemporary schooling. The second is a long-term operation organization that is similar to a community center but with an innovative purpose. The NICE2035 project used the original negative commercial street ground floor, shown in Figure .4.2 to drive its transformation towards a new way of living in the future (Lou & Ma, 2018). As Zhou (2021) articulated, Zhou,2021

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“This is a street that is often complained. I had passed by here multiple times when I was studying. There are many Greasy spoons. Every day there are unwanted smog, dazzling lights, noisy sounds, which make residents upstairs grieve a lot. “

1 2 3 4

Figure 4.1 Lester School and Henry Lester Institute before rennovation Souce: Hongkou District Government Figure 4.2 The ground floor spaces in Siping Load for NICE2035 project Source: Yangpu District Government Figure 4.3 Hengda Caojiaxiang Sales Center, the site for Digua community Sourc: Digua community official wechat account Figure 4.4 Former Vegetable Company Building No. 2 in Xinmen Wenlu District, the ancient city of Quanzhou.

Source: Quanzhou Daily

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Table 4.3 Living Labs identified in China Source: author’s own drawing, data from interviews

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4.2.1.2 TURNING SPACES INTO (INVISIBLE) LABS What is an experiment? What is a laboratory? How do we turn an ordinary space into a laboratory? Different institutions have varying answers to these questions. Some of them directly moved traditional creative spaces into the community. Taking the DesignUniverse as an example, in the revitalization process, teaching spaces like a renovated lecture hall, Fablab, co-creation spaces like co-working workshop rooms, and outdoor scaffolding stages were included to provide room for the Living Lab activity, as shown in Figure 4.9. A more significant case is the NICE2035 Prototype Street Project, as shown in Figure 4.6, in which laboratories were moved directly from the Tongji University campus to the community. Multiple research labs include Tongji-Dadawa Sound lab, Baobao food lab, and other labs. The labs are seen as the street’s anchors. Those anchors will attract a stable flux of people to build a community by choice and incentivize the entrepreneurs in Shanghai (Jiang et al., 2020). This kind of spatial structure under the leadership of experimenters (partners) resulted from continual negotiation and compromises. It is difficult to predict the outcome at the beginning of the planning process. This model has also shared some similarities with the Digua community, as shown in Figure 4.7. For example, one anime director in the community set up his film studio within the site. On the one hand, it is rented out to the public to help create output. On the other hand, it helps the anime director complete the creation of film and television works.

Moreover, some are large-scale spatial experimental fields. The one example that fits in this field is the Box Community, as shown in Figure 4.8. The Box Community itself is a prototype of co-living, and many of its innovative activities explore its own evolutionary trends and directions. Unlike ordinary residential buildings, the Box Community defines the space with boxes. The simple and easy disassembly feature of the box makes it easy to test and iterate the design of boxes continuously. The Box Community’s operation also helps itself keep a stable source of customers to provide constant feedback on the product. This design thinking cycle helps the Box Community itself become a large testbed.

It can be seen that innovation is a phenomenon that can occur in different fields and cannot be understood as a single specific activity alone. According to different innovation results, there are various programs involved. As a whole, the maker spaces and laboratories of new media, lecture spaces, short-term and diversified activities have become the primary carriers. Another important finding when spaces are turned into labs is that innovative activities are highly flexible and uncertain. It is difficult for single dominant spatial functions to meet space needs. Therefore, we can often find liquidity and uncertain spatial forms in those cases.

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Figure 4.5 DesignUniverse activity Souce: author’s own photography Figure 4.6 NICE 2035 after rennovation Source: DesignHarvest Official account Figure 4.7 Digua Community after rennovation Sourc: author’s own photography Figure 4.8 Box Community after renovation Source: Xiaofeng Du’s photography

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4.2.2 PEOPLE-ORIENTED: COMMUNITY AS INNOVATION PROTAGONISTS 4.2.2.1 FACILITATORS IN NEED Manzini (2015) once said that grassroots opinion leaders play a very important role in establishing and operating social innovation organizations. This dissertation argues that this is also applicable to other cases in China. University professors often play an essential role in these design activities. For instance, the founder of the Digua Community is Professor Zhou Zishu at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Dr. Zishu effectively integrated government resources and reactivated some underground spaces in Beijing. The same is true for Professor Lou of Tongji University, the initiator of the NICE2035 project, and Mr. Du of Box Community. In fact, Mr. Du has such a strong interest in the new living mode of Box Community that he negotiated with the government and designers to make the Box Community exist.

Furthermore, the Living Lab host is crucial for its operation. Most of the interviewees in this research are space hosts. Li and Zhou stated that the Lab host’s work is very different from other occupations. The time and content of the work are highly uncertain, and the interests of all parties need to be well-handled. One of their primary tasks is to maintain the relationship between stakeholders. In other words, the host is a crucial part of the Living Lab’s success, and they will decide the direction of the development and the content to be produced in the future. They usually have an ideological drive, which helps ensure the long-term vitality of the organization.

4.2.2.2 COMMUNITY BUILDING AND PLACEMAKING Although a Living Lab’s purpose is to innovate, it has played an essential role in community building and placemaking in the process of achieving innovation goals. First of all, the activities it organizes often require the participation of residents from within and outside of the community, as shown in Figure 4.10.

Activities for residents can help facilitate communication. One such project is NICE2035’s small garden. It has strengthened community residents’ discussions on gardening. On the one hand, the elderly cannot stand the young people who are not skilled in planting flowers, so they usually help with the administration of the small garden. On the other, the old residents will put the plants from their home in the garden, and they may also feel unhappy when the little garden is stolen.

Meanwhile, activities open to the public can indirectly affect the lives of residents. For instance, they can facilitate interactions between residents and outsiders, which gives residents a new understanding of their community’s value. Taking the Digua Community as an example, the swing dance class attracts residents and allows external “tourists“ to enter the community, where they can dance together. In the process, locals will consider themselves as the host.

The outcome of placemaking can be observed when these organizations have become local benchmark organizations. The NICE2035 commune has

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Figure 4.9 DesignUniverse activity Souce: author participated, Zhen Zhang’s photography Figure 4.10 Urban Bird Watcher Studio in NICE2035 Source: author participated, DesignHarvest Official account Figure 4.11 Digua Community after rennovation Sourc: Digua Community’ official account Figure 4.12 Box Community after renovation Source: Xiaofeng Du’s photography

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TEACHING ACTIVIT Y

WORKING ACTIVIT Y INNOVATIVE ACTIVIT Y

FINANCIAL ACTIVIT Y

Figure 4.13 Industry-University-Research Collaboration in Living Lab operation Source: author’s own drawing (Pilot Thesis)

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more and more people visiting under the impact of mass media. This publicity strengthened a local sense of identity. During fieldwork, a sense of pride could be observed amongst residents for having their communities shown on TV. However, the expansion of media propaganda has also brought gentrification. One obvious sign of this is that many people show intentions of buying a house nearby.

4.2.3 ORGANIZATION-ORIENTED: LOCALITY, PRODUCT, AND SERVICE THROUGH CO-CREATING IN CHINA 4.2.3.1 IDEAS TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP A notable feature of Urban Labs is innovation and creativity. It is obvious that the cases selected show some innovative and entrepreneurial characteristics. One of them is the so-called ‘prosumer’ mechanism, as shown in Figure 4.14. If literally translated, it means every resident is simultaneously a consumer and a producer. The Digua Community invented this mechanism, and it helps residents use their knowledge and skills to provide services for their neighborhoods. For example, they incubated a female brand named Mamaland, which organized activities including yoga, Pilates, psychological counseling, and mutual aid clubs to help them deal with psychological challenges. Moreover, Mamaland, as shown in Figure 4.11, encourages and empowers mothers to become entrepreneurs. They also provide skills training, site internships, and recommend work for mothers.

Some Living Labs will cooperate with the school or connect with external resources to produce innovative policies, new products, and services to help the nearby area by putting them into practice with key stakeholders.

The most typical instance is the commercial roadshow on the last day of the DesignUniverse event, as the schedule shown in Figure 4.15. It shows how a Living Lab can promote creative entrepreneurship in a city.

The other kind of organization is an experimental field for testing and evolving its own products. This can be reflected in the Box Community, as shown in Figure 4.12, and the box community co-creation workshop.

4.2.3.2 COOPERATION WITH MULTI-STAKEHOLDERS Being economically sustainable is one of the prerequisites for success in the Chinese regeneration process. Because there has yet to be any government funding for Living Labs, Living Labs in China also needs to attract private capital to participate in innovation and entrepreneurship. Thus, the original urban regeneration model that is unsustainable itself cannot work. A new cooperation mechanism is established to help Living Labs become self-sustaining, as shown in Figure 4.13. Aside from the short-term projects, the selected organizations for this dissertation have all proven to be self-sustaining. During the interviews, it was found that rent is still the main source of profit. Whether it is Box Community’s co-living, NICE2035’s commercial rental venues, or Digua Community’s cafes and bars, the rent is their main source of income. When it comes to activities that they hold, the profitability

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varies. It is worth mentioning that although co-creation plays an important role in the Living Labs operation, it is the least profitable activity. Therefore, the Living Lab operation in China cannot only consider co-creation. At the same time, they must consider building a related industrial ecology to balance the finance. Such a business model can be represented through a timetable that vividly explains the construction and operation process of projects such as NICE2035.

One point worth mentioning is that even if the Chinese government does not provide money to such organizations, they still can help allocate related resources to help Living Lab organizations. The Digua Community and NICE2035 project all indicated that they get the government’s design jobs, including urban design, regeneration, and graphic design works for municipal projects. Therefore, Living Lab organizations can balance the activity expenditures needed for organizing activities by earning money from relevant government bodies.

4.2.3.3 DESIGN-DRIVEN COLLABORATIVE COMMUNITY It is undeniable that such institutions are desirable to a younger demographic. This attractiveness can even attract young people to move away from a relatively better living environment to work and live instead in the old city.

Taking NICE2035 as an example, Shanghai middle-class people who love the sustainable lifestyle and innovation practices have been attracted to NICE2035 and the sense of community it fosters, as shown in Figure 4.16.

This result is inseparable from Mr. Lou’s personal charm. Many partners have joined this renewal project because of their long-term cooperation or unforgettable experience working with him. Mr. Lou and the first group of partners around him form a cluster, as shown in Figure 4.17. This cluster planned and discussed the Living Lab project and held an opening event together. After that, many joined the community, and the cluster proliferated quickly. Wawa, a plant-balanced diet expert, and Yifu, the founder of Dasheng City Lab, whom I met during my fieldwork, moved to live nearby.

When asked about the reason for their movement, they say that: “Because I feel very young here, and I feel that I can come into contact with different interesting things every day.” and “Meeting same-minded people here makes me happy.” It is evident that the attractiveness of the community transcends its physical environment. Such a Living Lab can further enhance the attractiveness of the community and the tourist destination itself to the outside world. Such manifestations are also found in the Digua Community, the Box Community, as well as the DesignUniverse.

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Figure 4.14 Digua Community’s bookelet Source: author’s own photograph Figure 4.15 Design Universe’s booklet Source: author’s own photograph

14 15

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Figure 4.16 Design Community formed in NICE2035 Source: DesignHarvest’s offcial wechat account

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4.3 REFLECTION Overall, these results indicate that the planning of a Living Lab in China is currently a tentative new approach to urban regeneration that focuses on innovation. This is emphasized by the fact that the case studies discussed in this dissertation demonstrate their plausibility in all three aspects of being People-oriented, Place-oriented, and Organizational-oriented. The development model shown in Table 4.4 that is proposed in this dissertation can be replicated widely across the region in places of similar urban regeneration typologies. It will enable a transformation from a single residential landscape to a landscape of symbiosis between innovation and urban regeneration. The model also embodies a participatory process in which residents gain agency.

Such a process will sustain a tourist destination’s development in the long run.

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Figure 4.17 NICE 2035’s operational scheme Source: author’s own drawing

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Table 4.4 Urban Strategies and Living Lab cases(Source:Self-drawn)

Policy Category

Key Findings

Detailed Findings

Place-oriented

Vacant third place as the main battlefieldW

All have the common feature of being close to the community and tend to use deteriorating third places. There are mainly two forms: (1) Short-term occupation, and (2) Long-term inhabiting labs in the community with studios and maker spaces.

Turning spaces into (Invisible) Labs

Observed types: (1) Some of them directly moved traditional creative spaces into the community. (2) Some are large-scale spatial experimental fields.

Innovation is a phenomenon that can occur in different fields and cannot be understood as a single specific activity alone. They are also highly flexible and uncertain.

A Facilitator in need

Grassroots opinion leaders play a very important role in establishing and operating social innovation organizations. What’s more, the Living Lab host is crucial for its operation.

Community Building and Placemaking

The activities it organizes often require the participation of residents from the community and outside. The outcome of placemaking can be observed when these organizations have become local benchmark organizations.

People-oriented

Organization-oriented Ideas to Entrepreneurship A notable feature of Urban Labs is innovation and creativity. It is obvious that the cases selected show some innovative and entrepreneurial characteristics.

(1) the ‘prosumer’ mechanism.

(2) Cooperate with the school or connect with external resources to produce and put idea into practice with key stakeholders.

(3) Organization per se is an experimental field for testing and evolving its own products.

Cooperation with Multi-stakeholders

Being economically sustainable is one of the prerequisites for success in the Chinese regeneration process.

Because there has not been any government fund for Living Lab yet and the high degree of cooperation with the government and related institutions, Living Labs in China also need to attract individual capital to join in innovation and entrepreneurship.

One point worth mentioning is that even if the Chinese government will not provide money to such organizations, still, they can help allocate related resources to help Living Lab organizations.

Design-driven Collaborative Community

It is undeniable that such institutions are desirable to young communities. This attractiveness even can let young people be willing to move away from a relatively better living environment to work and live in the old city.

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TOURISM-LED URBAN REGENERATION: LAOCHENGNAN AS AN EXAMPLE

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5.1 TOURISM DESTINATION DEVELOPMENT IN NANJING Laochengnan sits in Nanjing, as shown in Figure 5.1, and it is one of the most developed cities that served as the national capital of China across ten different dynasties between 229CE and 1949. It has witnessed the battle between an entrepreneurial and a conservational approach in urban regeneration for many years.

Nanjing is known for its famous historical sites. But like many other cities, during the 1990s, 90% of the Ming and Qing style buildings in Nanjing were destroyed by the government and its subordinate company in order to shake off “backwardness” (Zhang, 2006) and develop the district economy. During that period, the famous Fuzimiao, shown in Figure 5.3, was demolished and rebuilt into a “fake antique” commercial street, as shown in Figure 5.7.

In 2002 and 2003, with the publication of the Conservation Plan of Nanjing (Nanjing Lishi Mingcheng Baohu Guihua) and the Nanjing Old City Preservation and Renewal Plan, almost all remaining traditional neighborhoods in Laochengnan were designated as historical cultural conservation areas, which should be strictly protected. But it is not only a spatial framework of what land is preserved, but also a map of what land can be obtained and controlled by the government. That is, the passing of two critical national laws in 2001 and 2007 stipulated that the state could legally expropriate residents’ private property if it is in the ‘public interest’. It can be seen in later practices that the term ‘public interest’ is vague and usually abused. Therefore, it did not successfully stop the growth-oriented model of development. In fact, it accelerated the process. Since 2006, the government has acted as the leading force to implement a top-down “massive demolition and construction“ plan in Nanbuting, shown in Figure 5.4, where locals were forced to separate from their original culture and land in exchange for compensation fees, as shown in Figure 5.8.

In 2008, in order to develop the Mendong area, shown in Figure 5.5, the government creatively proposed a ‘Teeth Replacement Model.‘ To elaborate, except for key historic buildings, the ‘good teeth,’ most buildings in the original streetscape were seen as ‘bad teeth’ needing to be pulled. The bad ones were destroyed and rebuilt to fit the commercial street planning. As a result, tourists had no chance to see the everydayness of Laochengnan, as shown in Figure 5.9. Moreover, there is a significant disconnect between the locals and the benefits of tourism and the local culture. Such entrepreneurial plans triggered widespread and intense tensions and conflicts among residents, the government, the planning team, and academics (Chen, 2021).

Local cultural activists, national cultural elites, the central government, and residents raised many doubts about this approach. Two competing battles to defend Laochengnan were launched in 2006 and 2009 against

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Jiangsu

Figure 5.1 The geo-location of Nanjing Source: author’s own drawing

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Laochengnan

Nanjing Jiangsu

Nanjing

the above two redevelopment methods. Residents’ protests reflected the unique spirit of the place and the power of the community in Laochengnan. Due to the intervention of the mass media, this defense became a public event with considerable national influence, which eventually caused the local government to change its established decision.

The last ten years have seen a shift in the mindset of the government from chai (rebuild)-oriented to bao(protect)-oriented development. The community has shown up in the redevelopment planning phase and was offered to choose whether they would like to leave or stay nearby. The urban regeneration scheme in the Xiaoxihu area, as shown in Figure 5.6 and 5.10, is one good example of this. But still, a development mechanism that encourages product innovation in the era of digitalization and local culture and everydayness preservation is missing.

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50 Meters

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Figure 5.2 The conflicts in urban regenerations of Nanjing Source: author’s own drawing

100 Meters

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Figure 5.3 Confucius Temple before renovation Source: Qinhuai District government Figure 5.4 Nanbu Ting before renovation Source: Qinhuai daily Figure 5.5 Lao Mendong before rennovation Source: weibo blog Figure 5.6 Xiaoxihu before renovation Source: Qinhuai District government

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3

4

5

6

Figure 5.7 Confucius Temple after renovation Source: Hao Zhou’s photograph Figure 5.8 Nanbu Ting after renovation Source: author’s own photograph Figure 5.9 Lao Mendong after rennovation Source: Qinhuai District government Figure 5.10 Xiaoxihu after renovation Source: Southeast University

7

8

9

10

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50 Meters

Figure 5.11 Overview of Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map

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N

Figure 5.12 City Wall in Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map Figure 5.13 Everyday Life of Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map Figure 5.14 Storage space of Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map Figure 5.15 Clothes of Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map

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13

14

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5.2 MENXI AREA 5.2.1 THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF MENXI AREA

In Laochengnan, Menxi is one of the leftover heritage communities that still retains its original Qing-style streetscape, as shown in Figure 5.11-18.

As many have discussed, the Menxi area, as shown in Figure 5.19 is the last remaining cultural root of the Laochengnan area. There are endless stories to be told from literary works, ancient fables, imported culture brought by immigrants, and folk holidays. These are critical resources for tourism and the creative industry innovation, and they can be categorized in four parts: Literature and Stories, Location-based Cultural History, Everyday Life, and Folk Customs, as shown in Figure 5.20.

5.2.1.1 LITERATURE AND STORIES The prosperity and beauty of the Menxi area in the past can be understood by reading ancient Chinese poetry. Bai Li, a poet from the Tang Dynasty, once climbed on the ‘Phoenix Terrace’ in Menxi area and composed the following lines: Li, Tang Dynasty

’Before, phoenixes used to hang out at Phoenix Terrace. They’re gone leaving the terrace empty and the river flowing. ‘ Mu Du, another poet from the Tang Dynasty, also mentioned Menxi area (which was then referred to as ‘Apricot Village’) in his poetry when he wrote:

Du, Tang Dynasty

‘Is there a public house somewhere, cowboy?’ He points at Apricot Village faraway.’

Other than poetry, such traces can also be found in novels, proses, dialects, and operas.

Stories are also critical conduits to help understand the local area. Unlike other cultural districts, Menxi is special in that its streets and allies are named after historical stories, myths, or famous people that once lived there. For example, XieGongCi was named in memory of former residents Xuan Xie, a famous general from the Jin Dynasty (266–420), and Duke Xianwu of Kangle, which means one of the most important municipal officers at that time.

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Figure 5.16 Self-constructed installations are commonly seen in Menxi Area, this picture include ones for drying clothes Figure 5.17 Salty Ducks are Nanjing’s most famous dishes, and one important part in Menxi Residents’ daily life Figure 5.18 Lane doors are like the entrance towards heterotopia world, although it actually connects people’s everyday llife

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50 Meters

Figure 5.19 Menxi area technical drawing Source: author’s own drawing

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The stories and literature constitute another layer to the Menxi area behind the physical one, opening the opportunity towards an augmented space where more information will be obtained during the tour. Nanjing University, one of the most famous local universities that specialize in humanities research, is now working hard with the Literature Nanjing Team to transform the intangible aspects of “context, length of time, degree of communication, breadth of communication, etc.” mentioned by the Literature Nanjing Team to tangible interfaces.

5.2.1.2 LOCATION-BASED CULTURAL HISTORY Menxi area used to be one of Nanjing’s most famous manufacturing districts.

This characteristic can still be found by looking at the traditional hand-craft factory and food stores, including Mopan Street Dandan Workshop, Yingao Alley Soup Shop, the tofu stalls in Yinma alley, a Shaobing Shop, etc. Also, the investigation of the streets’ names indicates that the Menxi area has various complete industry chains for stone mills, bells, bamboo products, and complete silk weaving (Cheng, 2021). Out of all these industries, the silk industry was the most dominant in Menxi. Menxi area accommodates the whole silk production process, including raw material markets, private production studios, industry associations, and sales markets. In the 1950s, Nanjing’s No. 1 cotton mill was built on a vacant plot near the Menxi area, demonstrating Menxi’s importance in the city’s industry. The spirit of manufacturing of this area makes residents here still respect their skills and culture.

After its prosperous history as a manufacturing hub, the Menxi area has also witnessed an influx of people from Beijing Tongren Tang (a Chinese medicine factory that is famous in Beijing and later had a branch in the Menxi area.) and, more recently, migrants from other parts of Jiangsu for temporary work.

The influx changes the demographic constitution of the area and makes the culture of the Menxi area more inclusive and diverse.

5.2.1.3 EVERYDAY LIFE AND FOLK CUSTOMS Compared to the Mendong area, where no trace of residents can be found now, Menxi’s biggest treasure is its rich everydayness. Everyday life refers to ordinary, mundane activities, experiences, behavior, and interactions with the environment. Everydayness is considered as a temporal (daily, monthly, and annually) cross-section of a living (personal, communal, and societal) environment within a particular territory (Certeau,1984). This value of everydayness is beyond the historical architecture, beyond the alley route system, and refers more to the spiritual meaning of the place.

5.2.2 THE CURRENT SITUATION OF THE MENXI AREA

Menxi’s current everydayness is also an important part of its cultural asset.

Thus, the site will be approached through three aspects: things, people, and environments.

5.2.2.1 THINGS When viewed from the perspective of artifacts and physical objects, the most

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Figure 5.20 Menxi’s History Source: author’s own drawing

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50 Meters

Figure 5.21 Menxi’s location-based cultural resources Source: author’s own drawing, data partly from author’s own research and trip, partly from LanD Studio

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obvious ones in the allay of Menxi area are the self-constructed installations and buildings, as shown in Figure 4, including ones for living, washing and drying clothes, planting, decorating, transporting, and safeguarding. This kind of intervention makes the original narrow allay even narrower. It blocks natural light and complicates the unified Qing and Ming architectural styles.

Those installations indicate that the infrastructures are poorly equipped to accommodate Menxi people’s daily living requirements.

Other than the self-built installations, those that are government-built are also everywhere near the site. In continual urban renewal, the transitional structures for constructing and renovating nearby are the new streetscape of the area and will last for a long time. The temporary scaffolding is usually with grey or green cloth that will stay for a long time, as shown in Figure 5.

5.2.2.2 PEOPLE Two groups of people live in the Menxi area: the old and locally-born groups, accounting for around 70%, and the newcomers to Nanjing city.

Menxi residents, especially the old group, have a strong sense of belonging to their home. Multiple self-organized cultural organizations are established to keep the root of the Menxi area. One such example is the Menxi Watchmen Group (MWG), as shown in Figure 5.22. In order to let more people understand Menxi, the group tried various methods such as holding exhibitions, giving lectures, operating WeChat public accounts, and publishing publications at their own expense. Also, there is an AngAng Community ‘Ring Bella’ Patrol Team, which has been patrolling the streets and lanes for nearly 30 years. These organizations we mentioned because this is an infrequent phenomenon under the fast development of Chinese communities (shequ) in modern cities. Most residential areas in China lack the opportunity to interact socially. Menxi locals’ willingness to talk about their past and future in the community makes it the perfect testbed for participation to happen.

5.2.2.3 ENVIRONMENTS Environments that constitute the Menxi area can be divided into two different types: tangible and intangible.

Exploring the everyday life of the Menxi area is a methodology that enables us to see the use of tangible environments so that we can design more effectively. During the field trip, it is discovered that locals like to play board games, chat, and gamble on the street. They creatively transform the streets and lanes into temporary public spaces suitable for communication and interaction, always attracting watchers like a halo. But as Figure 5.23-24 shows, the decaying environment and the narrow nature of lanes cannot provide enough support for these social activities.

Furthermore, Southeast University, one of the top architecture schools, is currently in charge of the physical up-gradation of the local area. Based on the researcher’s fieldwork and secondary data gathered from Southeast

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Figure 5.22 Menxi Watchmen Group Source: Qinhuai Daily Figure 5.23 The decaying physical environment is threathening the safety of residents Source: Danshi Lin’s photograph Figure 5.24 Historical building with a plain board on the wall Source: Danshi Lin’s photograph

University, urban vacancy is a critical problem in the Menxi area.

The intangible environments are the key to the redevelopment of the Menxi Area. Besides the residents’ lives, as shown in Figure 5.25, Nanjing’s supremacy in academic resources also brings many graduate or postgraduate level students. Nanjing University and Southeast University have long been discussing historical preservation in Laochengnan, and there have been many attempts to use Laochengnan for architectural competitions and workshops.

Another one is the booming creative industry in Nanjing. Nanjing is on its way to becoming the capital of creative industries based on its historical resources. Tons of students will graduate each year from a design-centric school like Nanjing University, Southeast University, and the Nanjing Academy of Art, and the city is never in lack of young design entrepreneurs.

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Figure 5.25 Doors in Menxi Source: author’s own collage based on Menxi Image Video Group, a group affiliated to Menxi Watchmen Group

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Figure 5.26 Ways to interact with Information and Communication Technology Source: author’s own drawing Figure 5.27 How Living Lab works in the context of Menxi Source: author’s own drawing

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Figure 5.28 Design Residency practices in Nanjing held by Nanjing Design and Innovation Center Source: Nanjing Design and Innovation Center Figure 5.29 Design Residency practices in Nanjing held by Nanjing Design and Innovation Center Source: Nanjing Design and Innovation Center

5.3 ICT TRENDS IN MENXI As discussed in the literature review, the ICT plays an increasingly significant role in connecting tourists to local resources. The following section examines how local people develop their own way of using ICT to engage in the tourism construction process.

With the emergence of immersive spaces, including virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) and other interactive interfaces, the interpretation and re-creation of traditional urban culture have become a new way to promote tourism. Diverse tourism products, including immersive Script kill game (a new type of strategy game that has gained popularity recently in China), shows, and interactive exhibitions have brought fresh blood into historical districts like Nanbuting and Mendong areas, as shown in Figure 5.26. However, the traditional development of such products is usually done by teams from outside, such as Beijing and Shenzhen. They barely know Nanjing’s local culture. Also, the complexity and inaccessibility of technology in digital transformation have made the residents the victims of technology. They are further away from the city’s tourism promotion. If this developmental model continues, digital solutions risk losing a sense of the human touch.

Luckily, there is one organization trying to fill the gap. The Nanjing Creative Culture Design Center, as shown in Figure 5.28-5.29, is led by the Propaganda Department of the Nanjing Municipal Party Committee and organized by the Nanjing Municipal Committee. In recent years, it has been acting as a comprehensive platform for creative and collaborative innovation. It held several competitions to encourage new ways of interpreting and inheriting local cultural resources.

Viewing the cultural resources and the ICT development in Nanjing, whether stakeholders will be happy about a Living Lab approach, as shown in Figure 5.27 and 5.30, is still uncertain. Thus, this research further digs into this question by interviewing key stakeholders.

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Bai Li, On top of the Phoenix Terra

Bai Li

Qing Dynasty House

Nanjing Salted Duck

Yunjing Making

Self-built rooftop

ied vegetables Making

Figure 5.30 Collage of proposed Menxi area in the era of ICT Source: author’s own drawing

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CAMERA_01_2022 avgProdPS episode 3 in range[1_34] record PS: 5.67 shotNumber 130 AFO_vjCarRem0 x:-0.4, y:5.4, z:1.8, dist:5.7 OBS_RedCC.3 x:-5.7, y:15.3, z:0.3, dist:16.4 OBS_RedCC.4 x:-4.1, y:21.6, z:1.8, dist:16.4 OBS_RedCC.5 x:-5.0, y:9.4, z:0.2, dist:10.7 OBS_RedCC.7 x:-3.1, y:9.5, z:0.2, dist:10.0

ace

90s Residential Buildings Menxi traditional Yunjin Deng Tingzhen

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6

MENXI: THE LAST PART OF LAOCHENGNAN

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6.1 INTERVIEWS DESCRIPTION Regarding the implementation of an ULL in a tourism destination, it is conceived that the government should initiate and the stakeholders comprise ‘essential’ internal partners from the public and private sectors including universities, cultural/tourism industrialists, and, ultimately, local cultural organizations and indigenous residents. Further, as an urban tourism destination, consisting of diverse nested systems (Farrell & Twining-Ward, 2004), which are operating within an interconnected local-global system (Milne & Ateljevic, 2001), an assessment of the economic, social and cultural, and environmental impact of the Urban Lab project should be considered.

During the conceptualization of the Urban Lab project, the respondents (MGCTDM, DGCTDM, NDIC, RES1, RES2, NJUDT, SEUDT, MWG1, MWG2, STC), shown in Table 6.1 and Figure 6.1-5, confirmed the importance of such an institute and how to give comments and concerns about such an organization.

Table 6.1 Fieldwork and Interview Method

Name

Organization

Research Type

Qiyuan Dai, Miss Chen

Menxi Watchmen Group (MWG)

In-field Interview

Ge Jin

Head of the Culture and Tourism De- In-field Interview partment, Qinhuai District (DGCTDM)

Mr. Ji

Head of the industry Innovation In-field Interview Department of Municipal Culture and Tourism Department (MGCTDM)

Miss Wang

Nanjing Design and Innovation Center Online interview (NDIC)

Mr. Luo

Shuang Tang Community (STC)

In-field Interview

Miss Wang and Miss Fan

Southeast University (SEUDT)

In-field interview

Mr. Lu and Miss Xiao

Nanjing University (NJUDT)

In-field interview

Mr. Wu, Mr. Xu

Residents (RES1, RES2)

In-field interview

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CONSUMER

VISITORS

Users

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER

Target group & behavioural definers

R Public Actors

Long term perspective & regulatory role

LOCAL PEOPLE

XT

GOVERNMENT

IFE CON L-L TE A E

Living lab

Private Actors

Practical know-how & resources

TRAVELLING COMPANY

NGO

Knowledge Institutes Expertise & scientific substantiantion

KICKSTARTER

SCHOOL

Figure 6.1 Living Labs and its stakeholder map Source: author’s own drawing

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6.2 KEY FINDINGS 6.2.1 ORIGINAL DEVELOPING MODEL

As to the original developing model in Nanjing, the majority of participants agreed with the statement that they feel disappointed about the development of previous tourist destinations for the loss of Yanhuoqi (genus loci) even though most of the stakeholders from the government side has also participated in the planning for the previous program. This is because many have argued that there is no good long-term operation in the current political system. The continuity of the plan is bad because of the quick position change of mayors and chairpersons. Meanwhile, the MGCTDM indicated that the planning usually are all made out of a template resulting from the university professors’ team.

MGCTDM,2021

“Professors in each university have no time. The professor does not spend enough time investigating, so the design team understands little about local culture.”

The third possible reason is that the original planning model requires high involvement of the government. Therefore, an organization that can run without full support from the government is expected.

6.2.2 ICT AND TOURISM PRODUCTS

During the interview, the participants were asked about the necessity of tourism product innovation with ICT. All informants agreed that innovation would play an essential role in the future. Some respondents believed that it could add value to the current products. For example, NDIC pointed out: NDIC,2021

“Tourists complain that the current display method is monotonous and boring. We must investigate the online functionality of tourism products to ensure the continuous output of the culture so that we can give consumers a second cultural memory with half the effort.”

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Some regards innovation as a new way of promoting local entrepreneurship and bringing job opportunities. Culture innovation is considered a critical element to the project for the local economy by collecting, sorting out, writing, and interpreting Menxi’s history and daily life culture. When asked about the hardship pushing the trend, the current shortage of human and material resources is regarded as the main barrier.

MWG,2021

“...few supports can be found regarding this [learning new technology], although We are very interested in the knowledge of new media, software like AE is still hard to learn. Our organization is relatively loose, and there are still relatively few learning channels.”

The MWG expressed their concern. Locals also say although they are willing to share their stories to help the innovation process, they are old and do not know much about what they can do. Another concern is that even if they share their stories, it would be hard for the product to be young-generation-facing. All in all, there is a barrier between technological appliance and the willingness to create new cultural and tourism products.

6.2.3 LIVING LAB IN NEED

Regarding to the expectation of such a lab, opinions vary. The MWG hopes such a lab could help the area pass on the culture of the Laochengnan. They say that scholars may have a good understanding of the culture and history of Menxi. However, these contents are usually official literature from the internet. They are not very specific and close to their everyday life. NJUDT and SEUDT have always carried out relevant residents’ participatory design exploration in urban renewal. Planning-related courses have been carried out in the community many times, so NJUDT hopes that such a lab can become a teaching place and workstation for the School of Architecture and Art, or the Chengnan culture’s modern maker space. The team believes that the construction of cultural platforms should be regarded as long-term work, an extensible, fillable, and open-source work that can help integrate multiple subjects. The platform is a data set and a searchable and available database.

It further expresses that they are also trying to collect the oral history of the

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Laochengnan, hold activities or exhibitions such as the memory of plants in the Laochengnan.

Many have also pointed out some potential directions for spatial interventions. The NDIC mentioned that since it will be in the Menxi community, the physical distance from the design/art experts to culture source is shortened.

In this sense, the space needs to accommodate ICT innovation and interactive exhibition required by the participatory design process. That is, there should be a semi-open space for designers to create content and a co-creation space. The MGCTDM mentioned that to sustain such a lab, a creative industry ecology is needed to drive the operation of the entire laboratory, which may include other functions like related sales space, community spaces, and visitor center.

In all cases, the informants reported that the establishment of such a lab could not be something that one stakeholder can do on its own. Cooperation between government, enterprises, colleges, and institutions is crucial. As to the question of what they could offer in the implementation process, the MGCTDM indicated that they could help with integrating resources. The MWG are happy to be a content creator, the NDIC would be willing to connect designers and artists’ resources, and the universities show a willingness to provide professors and lab resources by using school project fundings. For the DGCTDM, this idea of supporting individual artists and designers for local culture is not something entirely new; the DGCTDM said, ‘I have been in contact with people like this in Nanjing before.’ The NJUDT and SEUDT hope to carry out teaching activities outside the school and allow students to be close to the lives of residents and traditional cultural stories.

6.2.4 CONCERNS AND RESISTANCE

As to the potential resistance of such a plan, concerns were expressed about the deterioration of the built environment of the local area, the aging society in the Menxi area, and the residents willingness to join the project. The community administers said, STC,2021

“Whether the value here is high remains to be determined. But what I am sure about this area is that it would be hard to attract young designers and artists. You can’t tell them to use the public toilet.”

This was echoed by the DGCTDM and RESs as well. There are also many

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concerns about whether this community-driven approach could work. Although the residents show a willingness to participate, the benefit that the lab can bring them is intangible, and the primary concern is still the physical up-gradation of the Menxi area. This view was echoed by the community’s administrator, who says that the community’s right to speak is limited, and the government’s openness is not enough for such labs. The MGCTDM also shows concern about the area by stating that it would be chaotic if high autonomy is given to the residents. “I always agree that there is unified management for such labs. That is, in short, let a professional team do professional things.

If people [residents] all fight separately, it would usually result in malicious competitions.” The NDIC says that the lab should focus on letting tourists get the empathy of local culture, enhancing life-supporting facilities, and collecting market feedback to enrich the experiences of local people and tourists.

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Figure 6.2 Interview Menxi’s residents with Menxi Watchmen group Source: author’s own photograph Figure 6.3 In-field interview and observation for 3 months with Dr. Andong Lu, co-initiator of Nanjing creative city of literature Source: Nanjing Daily Figure 6.4 Interview in Municipal Nanjing Cultural and Tourism Department Source: author’s own photograph FIgure 6.5 Field trip with Menxi Watchmen Group Source: author’s own photograph

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TOURISM DESTINATION PLANNING THROUGH URBAN LABS

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The dissertation to which these arguments have led is for a speculative design project, the Menxi Living Lab, which attempts to explore how the Living Lab model can inspire the design and planning of tourism destinations. The premise is to be the design and innovation engine for the Menxi area’s cultural and tourism industry that connects the old residents with new ones. Thus, three key procedures are considered to speculate the gradual evolution of the initiative: the preparation and construction, the operation system, and the design and forms.

7.1 PREPARATION AND CONSTRUCTION 7.1.1 INITIATION

In the Menxi area, universities in Nanjing and the Nanjing MWG are well suited to be the leading force of the project. The former brings an academic perspective, and the latter comes from a social standpoint. Since the Living Lab’s unique aim is to incentivize innovation in the tourism and creative industries, art and design-centric universities like Southeast University, Nanjing University, Nanjing Academy of Art, and potentially Nanjing University of Science and Technology are considered to be interested in co-initiating the lab. Potential university partners include community-building organizations, enterprises that focus on the tourism and creative industries, and labs specializing in storytelling, culture organization, and information visualization.

7.1.2 PLATFORM ESTABLISHMENT

The operating team should establish a multi-stakeholder platform, as shown in Figure 7.1, to grow a social participation ecosystem, and to support the participation of universities or institutions in the design and implementation of processes to realize sustainable development. It is suggested that an operating company should be established to balance the expenditure of the site and to ensure the sustainability of the project.

7.1.3 FINANCING AND THE BUSINESS MODEL

Establishing an integrated revenue source and a strong business plan is of fundamental importance to a multi-stakeholder lab like this. The proposed plan suggests that universities and the government raise funds to establish a project capital pool. The government, universities, and operating companies will then decide how to spend the fund.

Once in use, the operating company is responsible for its profits and losses.

The company can generate an operational fee proportionally from start-up companies or individuals. The lab can also offer sites for long-term stores, such as coffee shops, to ensure that the lab will run sustainably. It can also work as a window to sell innovative products from the co-creation process.

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7.2 OPERATING SYSTEM The Menxi’s Living Lab will mainly take on three roles, as shown in Figure 7.1, in the community: (1) build an Environment Redevelopment Center, (2) provide a Community Participatory Platform, and (3) serve as a Cultural Engine, as shown in Figure 7.2.

7.2.1 BUILT ENVIRONMENTAL REGENERATION CENTER

One critical reality that needs attention in the Menxi residents is the deteriorating living condition. In the preparation phase, a community regeneration consultant platform will be established to offer suggestions for residents on how to renovate their houses. This will ensure that relevant state agents relay and hear residents’ opinions. By organizing workshops that involve different stakeholders, it is envisioned that a Menxi’s renovation guidebook will be published to help people with the financial capability to redevelop for themselves. If they do not have the money, they can also apply for funds or state-owned assets from the government under the condition that part of their property would be shared with the public.

7.2.2 COMMUNITY PARTICIPATORY PLATFORM

At present, there appears to be a lack of channels for residents to express their ideas in the redevelopment process. Thus, this lab will act as a longterm platform that holds workshops to help resolve certain issues through multi-stakeholder collaborations. Moreover, in addition to being a hub for consultation and research activities, the Living Lab will also house a community activity room that is open to the public, as well as a bookshop cafe that can attract tourists and ensure a stable stream of income.

7.2.3 CULTURAL ENGINE

Menxi’s transformational history and dynamic everydayness provide rich content for the production and reproduction of space making. Thus, the Living Lab intends to invite artists and designers to speak with residents and the MWG about their tangible and intangible memories of Menxi, as shown in Figure 7.3. With a systematic cultural database, the lab will periodically welcome enterprises, community members, universities, and other partners to join the co-creation meeting for tourism and innovative products, as shown in Figure 7.4. Artists and researchers are expected to co-create new ways of visualizing content for exhibition purposes. Some results out of the lab will be multiple exhibitions across Nanjing. It will either be in traditional museums or galleries or in the Menxi site itself. The Menxi Living Lab will also co-create with universities to design or develop a customized “Storytelling” route for historic districts by connecting the narrative elements to physical street spaces.

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Figure 7.1 The Conceived Collaboration Network of Project Menxi Living Lab

Source: author’s own drawing, adapted from Jiang(2020)

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Figure 7.2 The Organizational framework of Menxi Living Lab Source: author’s own drawing adapted from Implementation Essay

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7.2.4 A HOST IN NEED

The role of the Lab as a host can be further divided into three parts, that are to serve as: The designer and curator of public participation activity, and The organizer and coordinator of the co-creation workshop, and The advisor and think-tanker of the urban renewal practices.

7.3 DESIGN AND FORMS

One potential site for the proposal is the Jinling Tea Factory(Site A, shown in Figure 7.5) that sits in the middle of the Menxi community. This was once an important economic hub in the Menxi area; however, it was abandoned in 1979 as it could not adapt and meet new demands throughout China’s industrial transformation. It has since been transformed into temporary housing for migrant workers, while retaining its architectural structure as a tea factory. The corridor, therefore, is relatively wide. During the fieldwork, the owner of the Tea Factory demonstrated a willingness to offer the building for future use in the proposed plan, should they receive enough compensation from the government. The change of ownership creates opportunities for architects to rethink several methods to connect the manufacturing industry’s past with the future of production in the digital world.

Another potential site is in the Menxi Smart Living District(Site B), which sits near the Menxi Community. In the current plan, this area will accommodate the future headquarters of technology companies. Thus, geographically speaking, the site for the main Living Lab would sit between technology and the community, encouraging architects to think about how to connect those two different cultures through spatial interventions. Moreover, Site C is an old factory estate that will be available soon. The park near the ancient city wall(Site C)is now empty. Both mean that there are spaces for physical improvements.

The design for the Living Lab is not like other institutions. Architects should make sure to leave some space for uncertainties, as shown in Figure 7.6. Living Labs can act as experimental fields for continual testing and prototyping.

The defining principle of the new architectural design typology will be to embody all aspects of innovative activities in an (or this) era of disruptive technologies, which also means it will help the community evolve. However, we need to bear in mind that the existing cases have already shown signs of gentrification when introducing new programs and doing community building.

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Building/Space Zoning/ Planning Object/Things Camera/Framing

People/Body Culture/Asset

Figure 7.3 An augumented space narritive with the help of Information and Communication technology Source: author’s own drawing adapted from drawing in cinematic aided design: an everyday life approach to architecture (Penz, 2018)

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MIX-USED LABS

INTERACTIVE PAVILION

STORYTELLING FACILITIES

LOCAL GUIDE SYSTEM

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Figure 7.4 Organizational Fram Source: author’s o

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mework for Menxi Living Lab own photograph

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Figure 7.5 Proposed site and its surroundings Source: author’s own photograph and perspectives from current project

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Traditional Lab Spaces Traditional Skyscraper

Traditional

Lab Spaces that is Open and Mixed-use Skyscraper with media wall

A

Living Lab Spaces

Building Elements

Phone

Traditional Map Guidance

Self-built Infrastructure

Tradition

Guided, High-quality Infrastructure

Floor with Gr

Augumented Map Guidance System

Map Guidance System 108

Public Infrastructure

Fl

Figure 7.6 Summarized Design guidance for Living Labs Source: author’s own drawing

l Phone Pages

Traditional Residential Building

A.R.

Mixed-use Residential Building

e Pages

nal Floor

round Lights

loor

Function of the Building

Traditional Pavilion

Interactive Pavilion

Pavilion and Installation 109

Figure 7.7 College: the overlapping moment of spatial alternation and ICT experiments Source: author’s own drawings

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7.4 A SPECULATIVE FUTURE As the Living Lab is a forward-looking organization, it is worth thinking about what the Menxi area would look like in 20 years. Thus, the design would connect the Living Lab in 2022 with some potential design interventions in Menxi 2042 in future design practices to vividly showcase the district’s evolution, as shown in Figure 7.7.

Ultimately, the Menxi Living Lab aims to devise for tourism destinations a new urban regeneration strategy that features a design-driven organizational structure that includes the power of designers, artists, and communities.

Since Living Lab research in China is still nascent, the speculative design project and its spatial intervention aim to illustrate a contextual alternative for similar tourism destinations with similar challenges and opportunities.

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CONCLUSIONS

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The current problem facing the Chinese tourism destination development is that the destination is at high risk of being homogenized and commercialized in the pursuit of competitiveness under state control. In other words, the elites usually decide what is best for citizens. However, this top-down model of development often achieves the opposite results, as it tends to relocate residents, rather than cater to their needs. Even though many practices are starting to encourage residents’ participation in the regeneration process, they fail to consider how to empower citizens in the digitalization process.

This miss calls for a new mechanism for Smarter Tourism Destination development. Against this backdrop, this dissertation provides an alternative way of urban regeneration by integrating the concept of a Living Lab into the processes of urban regeneration.

This dissertation investigates what the Living Lab is as a design and planning method through the theories, case studies, and interviews presented. It begins by tracing back into the history of the Living Lab as a concept and a practice. Then it consulted various studies to understand how Living Labs are defined and investigate what research currently exists on Living Labs in China, and their relationships to the rise of cultural tourism-led urban regeneration processes. It then laid out the theoretical framework to understand the association of Living Labs with cultural tourism development.

What followed was a look into new trends in China that have taken place in destinations that can cultivate the development of a Living Lab. Four Living Lab initiatives were examined for this project. They are small in scale and scope, located in a historical community, and innovating for the future. This project used place-oriented, people-oriented, and organization-oriented perspectives to discuss their needs in the Chinese context and their subsequent impact on urban regeneration. In this process, the dissertation found that vacant third places are usually the Living Labs’ main battlefield.

They have different ways of turning spaces into (invisible) Labs. Usually, those initiatives are considered community building and placemaking practices.

When investigating their operating mechanisms, a facilitator is found to be vital in their establishment. In line with the findings of western cases, Living Lab turns ideas into entrepreneurship. However, Living Labs in China have

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demonstrated unique methods for multi-stakeholder cooperation, especially with respect to government bodies. Notably, the government will allocate related resources to help the initiative, rather than fund the initiative directly.

Furthermore, the Living Lab has the effect of creating a design-driven Collaborative Community. Together, these characteristics provide the Chinese architects and planners with an action guide to integrate the Living Lab into their cultural tourism-led urban regeneration process.

Finally, the Nanjing’s Menxi area was also used as an example to illustrate how the above-discussed findings could be put into practice. After a short brief of the basic situation of the Menxi area, multiple stakeholders were interviewed to discuss the Living Lab’s plausibility and limitation in China.

All informants agreed that innovation would play an essential role in the future, and the establishment of such a Living Lab could not be something that one stakeholder can do on its own. They thought that to make the Lab run by itself, the Living Lab should also include total tourism and creative ecosystem. Despite all those suggestions, informants are still concerned about whether the deterioration of the built environment of the local area, and the aging society in Menxi, can support such a lab. Those real-world feedbacks reflected that the Living Lab is a potential urban regeneration strategy for tourism destinations in China. After considering all the discussions and learning experiences of previous cases, the dissertation ended with a speculative preparation and construction process. It made some collages of potential sites to show a contextual spatial alternative for similar tourism destinations with similar challenges and opportunities.

This dissertation is one of the first studies on Living Labs in China, so undoubtedly, it has limitations. Firstly, the lack of literature on this topic in the Chinese context makes it hard to evaluate and select cases based upon an existing framework. Secondly, the selection of cases is biased because the researcher was restricted to travel in China during the fieldwork period. Also, all the cases were established in the past five years. Researchers cannot measure long-term effects on the community. Thirdly, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many scheduled research activities were canceled, including the intended action research to testify the plausibility of Living Labs in the Menxi area. Lastly, the time constraints of the dissertation only allowed the researcher to conduct onsite research for three months in the context of a global pandemic. Therefore, observations may not reflect how the Living Labs function in a world without Covid and during regular schooltime.

However, in the research process, many research topics are worth future investigation, such as action research on the interaction of residents and a Living Lab organization after implementation; ways to provide a visualized action guide for Living Lab practices in China, especially for the elderly to participate; and a thorough organization of the implementation process.

All in all, tourism destination development needs long-term attention and research. Key stakeholders should pay more attention to long-term investments like Living Labs.

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CHAPTER 1 Figure 1.1 Tourism industry’s history Source: author’s own drawing for Essay I-B Figure 1.2 Traditional Commercialization Development Model Source: author’s own drawing Figure 1.3 Micro-Regeneration Model Source: author’s own drawing Figure 1.4 Community Redevelopment Model Source: author’s own drawing Figure 1.5 ICT and Cultural Tourism Destination Development in Nanjing Source: Nanjing Government Website CHAPTER 2 Figure 2.1 MIT PlaceLab Retrieved from: [http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~tmcleish/Selected Publications/PlaceLab Overview.pdf](http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~tmcleish/Selected%20Publications/PlaceLab%20 Overview.pdf) Figure 2.2 European Network of Living Labs Retrieved from: [https://openlivinglabs.eu/](https://openlivinglabs.eu/) Figure 2.3 The world distribution of EnroLL accredited Living Labs Note: Living Labs for Rural Areas: Contextualization of Living Lab Frameworks, Concepts and Practices(Zavratnik et al., 2019) Figure 2.3 The birth and expansion of Living Lab in China and around the world Source: author’s own drawing Figure 2.5 Characteristic of an Urban Living Lab and a Living Lab Source: author’s own drawing adapt from Urban Living Labs: A Living Lab Way of Working (Steen & van Bueren, 2017) Figure 2.6 chronocyclegraph, a tool to study human motion Note: The Five Strands of Living Lab: A Literature Study of the Evolution of Living Lab Concepts in HCI (Alavi, Lalanne, Rogers, 2020) CHAPTER 3 Figure 3.1 Classification of urban regeneration policies Note: From urban renewal to urban regeneration: Classification criteria for urban interventions.

Turin 1995-2015: Evolution of planning tools and approaches , elaborated by SiTI Figure 3.2 Participatory Design way towards smart city Note: ‘Participatory Design: Ideas, Methods, Practices’, lecture, International Women’s University (IFU), Project Area Information, Hamburg, Germany, July 26, 2000.

Figure 3.3 Original diagram by Metahaven as published in Bratton’s The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty (2016) Source: author’s own drawing adapted from Bratton’s The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty(2016) Figure 3.4 Diagram variations by G. Costello. Diagram of the Stack as represented 6-layers deep, multiple activations as “zigzagging” columns from top to bottom layer.

Source: author’s own drawing adapated from G. Costello. Diagram of the Stack

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Figure 3.5 Diagram variations by G. Costello. Diagram of the Stack, showing user’s powerlessness in the face of digital transformation Source: author’s own drawing adapated from G. Costello. Diagram of the Stack CHAPTER 4 Figure 4.1 Lester School and Henry Lester Institute before rennovation Souce: Hongkou District Government Figure 4.2 The ground floor spaces in Siping Load for NICE2035 project Source: Yangpu District Government Figure 4.3 Hengda Caojiaxiang Sales Center, the site for Digua community Sourc: Digua community official wechat account Figure 4.4 Former Vegetable Company Building No. 2 in Xinmen Wenlu District, the ancient city of Quanzhou.

Source: Quanzhou Daily Figure 4.5 DesignUniverse activity Souce: author’s own photography Figure 4.6 NICE 2035 after rennovation Source: DesignHarvest Official account Figure 4.7 Digua Community after rennovation Sourc: author’s own photography Figure 4.8 Box Community after renovation Source: Xiaofeng Du’s photography Figure 4.9 DesignUniverse activity Souce: author participated, Zhen Zhang’s photography Figure 4.10 Urban Bird Watcher Studio in NICE 2035 Source: author participated, DesignHarvest Official account Figure 4.11 Digua Community after rennovation Sourc: Digua Community’ official account Figure 4.12 Box Community after renovation Source: Xiaofeng Du’s photography Figure 4.13 Industry-University-Research Collaboration in Living Lab operation Source: author’s own drawing (Pilot Thesis) Figure 4.14 Digua community’s bookelet Source: author’s own photograph Figure 4.15 Design Universe’s booklet Source: author’s own photograph Figure 4.16 Design Community formed in NICE2035 Source: DesignHarvest’s offcial wechat account Figure 4.17 NICE 2035’s operational scheme Source: author’s own drawing CHAPTER 5 Figure 5.1 The geo-location of Nanjing Source: author’s own drawing Figure 5.2 The conflicts in urban regenerations of Nanjing Source: author’s own drawing

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Figure 5.3 Confucius Temple before renovation Source: Qinhuai District government Figure 5.4 Nanbu Ting before renovation Source: Qinhuai daily Figure 5.5 Lao Mendong before rennovation Source: weibo blog Figure 5.6 Xiaoxihu before renovation Source: Qinhuai District government Figure 5.7 Confucius Temple after renovation Source: Hao Zhou’s photograph Figure 5.8 Nanbu Ting after renovation Source: author’s own photograph Figure 5.9 Lao Mendong after rennovation Source: Qinhuai District government Figure 5.10 Xiaoxihu after renovation Source: Southeast University Figure 5.11 Overview of Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map Figure 5.12 City Wall in Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map Figure 5.13 Everyday Life of Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map Figure 5.14 Storage space of Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map Figure 5.15 Clothes of Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map Figure 5.16 Self-constructed installations are commonly seen in Menxi Area, this picture include ones for drying clothes Figure 5.17 Salty Ducks are Nanjing’s most famous dishes, and one important part in Menxi Residents’ daily life Figure 5.18 Lane doors are like the entrance towards heterotopia world, although it actually connects people’s everyday llife Figure 5.19 Menxi area technical drawing Source: author’s own drawings Figure 5.20 Menxi’s History Source: author’s own drawings Figure 5.21 Menxi’s location-based cultural resources Source: author’s own drawing, data partly from author’s own research and trip, partly from LanD Studio Figure 5.22 Menxi Watchmen Group Source: Menxi’s own Figure 5.23 The decaying physical environment is threathening the safety of residents Source: Menxi’s own Figure 5.24 Historical building with a plain board on the wall Source: Menxi’s own Figure 5.25 Doors in Menxi Source: Menxi Image Video Group, a group affiliated to Menxi Watchmen Group Figure 5.26 Ways to interact with Information and Communication Technology Source: Menxi’s own

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Figure 5.27 How Living Lab works in the context of Menxi Source: Menxi’s own Figure 5.28 Design Residency practices in Nanjing held by Nanjing Design and Innovation Center Source: Menxi’s own Figure 5.29 Design Residency practices in Nanjing held by Nanjing Design and Innovation Center Source: Menxi’s own Figure 5.30 Collage of proposed Menxi area in the era of ICT Source: Menxi’s own CHAPTER 6 Figure 6.1 Living Labs and its stakeholder map Source: author’s own drawing Figure 6.2 Interview Menxi’s residents with Menxi Watchmen group Source: author’s own photograph Figure 6.3 In-field interview and observation for 3 months with Dr. Andong Lu, co-initiator of Nanjing creative city of literature Source: World Cities Culture Forum Figure 6.4 Interview in Municipal Nanjing Cultural and Tourism Department Source: author’s own photograph FIgure 6.5 Field trip with Menxi Watchmen Group Source: author’s own photograph CHAPTER 7 Figure 7.1 The Conceived Collaboration Network of Project Menxi Living Lab Source: author’s own drawing, adapted from Jiang(2020) Figure 7.2 The Organizational framework of Menxi Living Lab Source : author’s own drawings Figure 7.3 An augumented space narritive with the help of Information and Communication technology Source: author’s own drawing adapted from drawing in cinematic aided design: an everyday life approach to architecture (Penz, 2018) Figure 7.4 Organizational Framework for Menxi Living Lab Source: author’s own drawings Figure 7.5 Proposed site and its surroundings Source: author’s own photograph and perspectives from current project Figure 7.6 Summarized Design guidance for Living Labs Source: author’s own drawing Figure 7.7 College: the overlapping moment of spatial alternation and ICT experiments Source: author’s own drawings

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