LabGov Amsterdam

About LabGov Amsterdam

In 2016, a group of urban practitioners in Amsterdam – interested in discovering new forms of democracy – were inspired by the research coming out of the LabGov project in Bologna on innovative city governance models.  Curious about how such findings would map onto the Dutch urban landscape, they created LabGov Amsterdam to explore the ways and means of translating the new governance concepts inhering in the Co-City Methodology in the capital city of Amsterdam. 

Adopting LabGov’s concept of the quintuple helix – co-creation through five main players (social innovators, knowledge institutions, civil society, enterprises, government) – the Dutch Lab explores the possibilities of bridging the gap between citizens and government, through projects carried out in one of the fastest growing neighbourhoods of Amsterdam, the Nieuw West neighbourhood.

This neighborhood is currently undergoing major social and economic transformation. As such, it provides an ideal laboratory for testing the co-creation, co-governance, and collaborative models of urban governance that are emerging. The methods used by LabGov Amsterdam are community based and focus on creating a synergy between the goals of different stakeholders, as well as exploring and setting-up new governance structures by combining the knowledge of local practices, scientific knowledge, and judicial ‘know-how’ with current policies.

LabGov Amsterdam officially launched in September 2017. 

Additional Info on LabGov Amsterdam

Read this blog post, “An Expedition in Progress,” about LabGov Amsterdam.

Learn about LabGov Amsterdam’s Masterclass taught by Professor Sheila Foster at Pakhuis de Zwijger.