THE MOBILAB: A REAL-WORLD LABORATORY

The PREFIGURE case study countries are: Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK. Their socio-political, economic and geographical diversity enables a comprehensive overview of local contexts.

The local case studies are:

The project represents a significant advancement in the field, employing a transformative methodology to identify, trace, network, and compare local initiatives in the context of housing and energy transition. The objective is to establish transnational dialogues that facilitate the co-creation and practical implementation of affordable housing policy initiatives.

This novel approach aims to facilitate a more nuanced understanding of the existing, evolving and uneven geographies of housing and energy access. It also seeks to explore social innovations, co-produce knowledge of alternative solutions and to encourage the mobilisation of knowledge. The scientific innovation in tracing uneven geographies also relies on the use of the MobiLab.

The MobiLab is a mobile laboratory for sustainable innovation, constructed in the form of a tiny house. The vehicle is fully equipped with all the necessary technical devices to conduct participatory research, including solar panels for energy autonomy when used in public spaces.

The objectives of utilising the MobiLab are to:

Collect
empirical data

Connect stakeholders
of innovation

Accelerate the dissemination
of research results

Share knowledge on
practices of innovation