Experimental Governance for Sustainable Cities and Climate Action – Case Study ANN (A New Normal) RADAR Hamburg

In response to the challenges of climate change and other environmental and structural problems, different new forms of urban governance have been developed and tested throughout European cities. Urban Living Labs constitute one form of experimental governance, whereby urban stakeholders develop and test new technologies and ways of living to address the challenges of climate change and urban sustainability. Characteristics of Urban Living Labs in the sense of experimental governance are temporal limitation, spatial selectivity and problem-orientation.
Staging urban experimentation requires an evidence-based process to identify suitable urban target locations for urban testbeds. The research project ANN (A new Normal) RADAR addresses this challenge. Through a data-driven evidence base, it aims at identifying areas that have a particular demand and provide ample context for experimental interventions. The underlying research question is in how far experimentation strategies for sustainable urban development and climate mitigation can benefit from digitalisation by enriching the political decision-making process of identifying potential urban testbeds with analysing, processing and visualising available data. This paper describes the ANN RADAR approach and methodology, reflects experiences from pilot application and discusses issues relevant for further research.