Reallabore zur Transformation urbaner Zentren: Erfahrungen und kritische Reflexion

Online-shopping and digitization not only change our everyday life, they also affect the spatial and functional structures of inner cities and neighbourhood centres. This article reflects the opportunities, challenges and preliminary results of Real-world Laboratories for the transformation of centres, which are implemented as part of the TransZ research project. The project assumes that the future viability of urban centres depends, among other things, on whether and how it is possible to integrate the relevant local stakeholders into the process and to give them the opportunity to actively co-design the transformation. In particular, the article refers to established urban planning and urban research, in which transdisciplinary research approaches with the participation and activation of relevant planning actors are largely established. It becomes clear that Real-world Laboratories can meaningful complement established formal and informal urban planning processes.