Legitimacities: Notes on innovating our cities from the sidewalk up (Cities for People)

Could a network of regulatory experimentation labs in cities build legitimacy and shape inclusive innovation toward a great transition?

The societal crises of ecological collapse and inequality require bold collective action. Yet the foundations of collective action are shaking; trust in government and institutions has eroded.

It is at the scale of cities and communities that legitimacy can be rebuilt. And it is at the scale of cities that solutions to complex crises and new possibilities can be imagined, created, tested and implemented.

There is a need for new hybrid labs that span across sectors and have the capacity for strategic, participatory experiments: experiments that test both technology and regulation; experiments created with and governed by people from every sector; experiments that rebuild trust and reveal transition pathways.

These hybrid labs are beginning to emerge, and they cannot do their work alone.

Let’s build from there.
Let’s build Legitimacities.

Authored by Dark Matter Labs and Cities for People — Des villes pour tous

Collaborators include MaRS Discovery District, The Tamarack Institute, Future Cities Canada, Maison de l’innovation sociale, La Pépinière Espaces Collectifs, Laboratoire d’innovation urbane de Montréal, OpenNorth | NordOuvert, McConnell Foundation