From power to influence: counter-mapping for urban living labs
Urban climate adaptation is increasingly shaped by dual uncertainties: rapid urbanisation is changing exposure and vulnerability, while climate pressures are accelerating in unpredictable ways.
Urban living labs have emerged as a practical response, but many remain organised around solution pilots and ‘naive participation’, which generates visible outputs without shifting who has influence over planning and investment decisions.
This briefing argues that urban living labs need to move beyond solutionism, and treat empowerment and self-organisation capacity as core adaptation outcomes. It introduces counter-mapping as a facilitation methodology that supports this shift.
Counter-mapping works through repeated, embodied engagement that helps communities and institutions re-see the territory, reopen simplified risk narratives and change who can speak with authority about the future.
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Available at https://www.iied.org/22713iied
