Municipal experimental policy engagements in the built environment

Abstract

Experimentation is a key theme in the sustainability transition literature, where cities are recognized as key intermediaries in experimentation. Whilst attention has focused on the role of the cities as intermediary actors, the ways in which municipalities engage in and support experimentation is less known. In a collective case study of four Finnish municipalities, we draw on the transformative innovation policy literature to investigate the experimental policy engagements and the types of transformative outcomes the municipalities aim to influence. The municipalities engaged in socio-technical experimentation, both as regime-based intermediaries and as innovators experimenting with internal processes and tools. Their attention was focused on building and expanding niches, with unlocking regimes seen to be something beyond their scope. We can observe an experimental culture beginning to emerge at the local governance level. Whilst projectification in the public sector has enabled this emergence, it also influences the form and continuity of experimentation.