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In the past few decades, geochemically scarce metals have
become increasingly relevant for emerging technologies in
domains such as energy supply and storage, information and
communication, lighting or transportation, which are regarded as
cornerstones in the transition towards a sustainable post-fossil
society. Accordingly, the supply risks of scarce metals and possible
interventions towards their more sustainable use have been
subject to an intense debate in recent studies. In this article, we
integrate proposed intervention options into a generic life cycle
framework, taking into account issues related to knowledge
provision and to the institutional setting. As a result, we obtain
a landscape of intervention fields that will have to be further
specified to more specific intervention profiles for scarce metals
or metals families. The envisioned profiles are expected to have
the potential to reduce action contingency and to contribute to
meeting the sustainability claims often associated with emerging
technol ogies.
LinkLab is a newly established working group under the umbrella of German Committee Future Earth (DKN Future Earth). It opens up a space to discuss relevant connections and interfaces between real-world lab research and various scientific disciplines, exploring fruitful connections and pathways for mutual learning for future sustainability-oriented research.
There is urgent need to change the way we make use of non-renewable resources, especially metals, to sustain their availability for vital technologies associated with achieving change towards sustainability, but also to minimize negative impacts and to achieve a fair distribution of the wealth and burdens associated with their production and use. Especially public actors (state governments and administrations) have recently formulated strategies as a means to guide action fostering these goals. Yet, these strategies are very different in their character, which makes it difficult to compare them and learn how to best design strategies for a given context to contribute to the necessary change. To approach this question, we analyzed 37 national mineral resource-related strategy documents worldwide concerning their contextual conditions, motivation, and objectives. Following the general inputs for transition strategies (current and target state, transition strategy), we identified four clusters of strategy documents that share similarities in their approaches and support the development of specific recommendations for future strategy design in terms of both content and process. Designing strategies with a clear structure that interlinks a systems-based description of the current state, a clear vision (oriented at sustainability principles) and a sufficiently differentiated but at the same time flexible transition pathway improves their potential to contribute to more sustainable metal production and use.
Ways of evaluating the societal impact of real-world labs as a transdisciplinary and transformative research format are under discussion. We present an evaluation approach rooted in structuration theory, with a focus on structure-agency dynamics at the science-society interface. We applied the theory with its four modalities (interpretation schemes, norms, allocative and authoritative resources) to the case of the Mirke neighbourhood in Wuppertal, Germany. Six projects promoted the capacity for co-productive city-making. The effects of the projects were jointly analysed in a co-evaluation process. Previously proposed subcategories of the modalities as an empirical operationalisation were tested and confirmed as being applicable. Five new subcategories were generated. The use of the modalities seems appropriate for co-evaluation processes. The tool is practical, focused on real-world effects, and suitable for transdisciplinary interpretation processes. We encourage further empirical testing of the tool, as well as development of the subcategories.
Jointly experimenting for transformation? : Shaping real-world laboratories by comparing them
(2018)
Real-world laboratories (RwLs, German Reallabore) belong to a family of increasingly popular experimental and transdisciplinary research approaches at the science-society interface. As these approaches in general, and RwLs in particular, often lack clear definitions of key characteristics and their operationalization, we make two contributions in this article. First, we identify five core characteristics of RwLs: contribution to transformation, experimental methods, transdisciplinary research mode, scalability and transferability of results, as well as scientific and societal learning and reflexivity. Second, we compare RwLs to similar research approaches according to the five characteristics. In this way, we provide an orientation on experimental and transdisciplinary research for societal transformations, and reveal the contributions of this type of research in supporting societal change. Our findings enable learning across the different approaches and highlight their complementarities, with a particular focus on RwLs.
Reallabore sind derzeit ein populärer Forschungsansatz an der Schnittstelle zwischen Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft. Neben vermuteten Potentialen, wie der Erzeugung von Transformationswissen und einem Beitrag zu gesellschaftlichem Wandel, gibt es auch vielfältige offene Fragen, u. a. im Hinblick auf das Verhältnis zu transdisziplinärer Forschung, der Übertragbarkeit des erzeugten Wissens oder der Gestaltung von Experimenten in der "realen Welt". Auch eine breit getragene Definition von Reallaboren existiert derzeit nicht. Dieses Diskussionspapier möchte daher dreierlei leisten: Es beginnt mit dem Herausarbeiten von Reallabor-Merkmalen als a) Beitrag zu Transformationsprozessen, b) Experimenten als zentraler Forschungsmethode, c) Transdisziplinarität als Forschungsmodus, d) dem Ziel der Ausweitung und Übertragung der Ergebnisse und e) Reallaboren als Orten wissenschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Lernens. Im Nachgang werden diese Merkmale durch Rückbezug auf die einschlägige Literatur vertieft diskutiert. Abschließend werden mit Reallaboren vergleichbare Forschungsansätze (Sustainable Living Labs, Urban Transition Labs und Niche Experiments) im Hinblick auf ihre Ausgestaltung der fünf herausgearbeiteten Merkmale vorgestellt und Reallabore damit in den internationalen Forschungskontext eingebettet. Das Diskussionspapier will damit Forschenden und Praktiker_innen in Reallaboren eine Orientierung ermöglichen. Die vorgestellten konzeptionellen Überlegungen basieren auf einem thematischen Literatur-Review, ebenso wie Diskussionen mit Reallabor- und Transformationsforschenden in nationalen und internationalen Kontexten. Sie sind im Rahmen der Begleitforschung des Forschungsprojektes "ForReal" zu den Baden-Württembergischen Reallaboren entstanden. Dem Charakter eines Diskussionspapieres entsprechend sind die hier vorstellten Rahmungen zum Reallaboransatz als Angebot zur Diskussion, Erweiterung und Verbesserung zu verstehen.