Institutionalizing transformative science-society partnerships

Transdisciplinary partnerships between academia and society are key to drive urban sustainability innovations. Across the globe, such partnerships have emerged to perform diverse urban experimentation in real-world settings, developing transformative capacities (Wolfram 2016) and fostering collaborative learning for urban (climate) transformations. However, such transdisciplinary partnerships often work project-based and within a short timeframe, and the knowledge co-produced remains shared by the local actors involved (Egermann et al. 2026).

Drawing on pertinent examples from Germany [and South Africa - tbc] and their achievements over the last decade, this session discusses how such partnerships can become embedded and institutionalized, and how the knowledge and innovations produced locally can be transferred and scaled. Adopting a multi-level perspective, it refers to key national initiatives (e.g. German Society for Transdisciplinary and Participatory Research, Network Real-World Laboratories for Sustainability), introduces the first international database of Real-World-Labs and urban experimentation, and distills lessons for future transdisciplinary urban partnerships.