As urban landscapes grapple with deep rooted disparities, universities worldwide aim for making a true 'impact.' Now, more than ever, the public call for academics is to seek active societal relevance. Yet, universities as institutions historically have been a place for a social elite that researches ‘the world out there’ in an attempt to capture an objective social reality. Doing so, the traditional academic regime does not recognize the relevance of the value laden and the subjective. Even well intended research projects, where marginalized communities are the subject of study, issues of exploitation and research fatigue are often the case. This way, the city and its communities remain a subject of study and analysis, and the effect of research only finds its way into academic publications, education and policy recommendations that instigate changes after years, if it even does at all. In this study, we take a step forward in a transdisciplinary paradigm wherein we argue for a 'university of the city' by engaging in Community Based Research (CBR). CBR is more than a method; it is an 'orientation to inquiry' (Boyd, 2020). This approach requires moving away from subject focused and value free research towards value based (= context) research, by acknowledging it as a strength rather than a weakness of the research project. In this way, we aim to further research for, by and, with ‘the community’ to become part of the urban fabric and work on the basis of a reciprocal relationship. But what are experiences to develop CBR, grounded in values such as reciprocity? What infrastructure is needed to develop this kind of research? These questions touch on a multitude of ethical, practical and bureaucratic difficulties (finance, data, power). By conducting a literature review, benchmark and interviews with CBR projects in Europe and the Netherlands, we present a set of core principles (e.g. equity, reciprocity, continuity) that reflect fundamental values of what it means to engage in this transdisciplinary form of research. In our CBR program we worked with various pilots in Rotterdam, to see how CBR becomes a practice between residents, researchers and societal organizations. Therein, we monitor and critically reflect upon: 1) values of community based research, 2) the networks of relations between local residents and (social) entrepreneurs, community cooperatives and academics, 3) the operational ‘artefacts’ (time, money, locations). We coin these three aspects as the infrastructure of community based research, which allows for substantiating the concept of ‘knowledge democracy’ wherein a multiplicity of epistemologies and ways of knowing beyond traditional Western standards are recognized, and experiential, embodied, and expert knowledge find their way into (academic) research. Central here is the ownership of knowledge, and justice, in the process of producing and using knowledge.

In the digital media era, social media changes people’s behavior and their use and experience of the city in everyday life. Being in the city for many people now is marked by many social media posts. Meanwhile, social media changes places through peoples’ behavior as well. The phenomenon of the rise of social-media-popular places has garnered significant attention in recent years. For example, tourists line up for hours at a fries shop in Amsterdam because of a TikTok video. This phenomenon brings transformation and new strategies in those social-media-popular places and cities. Some places are already experiencing the problems of tourism-induced gentrification, overtourism, overcrowding, infrastructure strain and environmental impact after being popular. Moreover, the format of images and short videos are replacing the format of texts and audios in traditional media era, emerging social media platforms such as TikTok have not been paid sufficient attention yet. Based on those, this paper conducts an in-depth case study on the impact of TikTok on social-media-popular places in Amsterdam, by mapping the popular places and analysing social media data. At the macro level of city scale, this paper identifies the attributes of social-media-popular places through TikTok posts in Amsterdam and Amsterdam built environment data, maps and uses machine learning to cluster the spatial-temporal distribution of social-media-popular places. After that, at the micro level of place scale, this paper analyzes specific events and cases, for example, a spontaneous event about the long queue of tourists attracted and induced by TikTok at the fries shop in Amsterdam. First, it analyzes the whole process during the spontaneous event by tracking the posts and the number of views, likes, shares, comments, and engagement rates of the TikTok videos. Second, it studies the network of actors and their behaviors and sentiment through different time by users’ information, and marketing/branding keywords in the comments, and hashtags, check-ins, posts sentiment related to the destination on TikTok. Third, it finds what aspects of places changed through the process. Finally, this paper provides digital placemaking strategies for social-media-induced overtourism in Amsterdam.

A Living Lab is a concept and approach frequently explored and embedded in the literature on innovation ecosystems (Del Vecchio et al., 2017) when it is used as a means to illuminate the dynamic nature of collaboration among diverse stakeholders within a given context. In this vein, Living Labs offer a real-world environment for various actors, including individuals, businesses, researchers, and government entities, to collaboratively create, test, and refine innovative solutions, products, and services (Lasher, 1991). In these contexts, often aligned with the open innovation paradigm as described by Chesbrough (2003), the role of organizational culture emerges as a pivotal factor in shaping mechanisms of collaboration and competition. As noted by Dabrowska and Savitskaya (2014), organizational culture is a significant explanatory variable for human and corporate behavior in open innovation settings, influencing patterns of dealing with novelty and knowledge transfer, as well as preferences, expectations, and behaviors related to risks and trust. Therefore, it is crucial to analyze the open innovation approach in various settings. This study aims to investigate the presumed pivotal role played by Living Labs in shaping collaboration and competition within the specific cultural contingencies of Italian innovation ecosystems, which remain relatively unexplored when compared to the Dutch context. Drawing on the theoretical framework proposed by Enkel et al., (2009), this paper employs a single-case study methodology within an Italian innovation ecosystem. Data collection primarily relies on interviews with various components of companies operating within the innovation ecosystem and actively participating in creating, testing, and refine innovative solutions within Living Labs. The theoretical contribution of this study resides in its exploration of how Living Labs operate in the Italian context, expanding our knowledge beyond the more extensively studied Dutch scenario shedding a light into the critical factors that make a Living Lab an enabler of collaboration mechanisms. By focusing on Italy, this research broadens our understanding of the cultural nuances that influence open innovation practices. It seeks to identify the unique cultural factors and dynamics that influence the behavior of stakeholders, including individuals, businesses, researchers, and government entities when dealing with novelty, knowledge transfer, risks, and trust. The practical implications of this research extend to managers and policymakers, offering insights into how Living Labs can be effectively utilized to co-create, test, and refine innovative solutions, products, and services while considering the specific cultural context. This knowledge can inform the development of strategies and policies that better align with the cultural contingencies of the region, thereby promoting more successful open innovation practices and fostering economic growth and competitiveness.