Living Labs: a practical application of stakeholder theory

Sustainable growth has become an important topic of discussion both among academics and practitioners; nowadays, doing business means not just seeking for a profit but also creating value for all those who participate in the activities of an organization. This is true for private organizations as well as for public subjects and an example of the latter is the case of Smart Cities; in this context, citizens and other stakeholders are vital parts of the innovation process that would allow a city to become ”smart” not just under a technological aspect but also under a social aspect. Some policy makers have recognized this fact and promoted the Living Lab methodology with the aim to promote the co-creation of sustainable solutions in order to foster the progress of cities and their surrounding territories. This thesis examines three Living Labs in Italy which are the Urban Living Lab of Savona, the Santa Chiara Lab of University of Siena and Torino City Lab, in particular its CTE Next project, to better state the functionalities and goals of these laboratories and provide a concrete example of how this methodology can be useful in identifying the real needs of stakeholders allowing, this way, a saving of resources and time to solve urban problems.