تحلیل نقش هم‌آفرینی در توسعه آزمایشگاه‌های زنده شهری(موردی: شهر زنجان)

Introduction

In order to become a center for creativity and ideation and generally a living urban laboratory, the creative and innovative city is constantly facing inevitable risks. On the other hand, the urban planning and management system has a plural structure with a distributed decision-making system. Designing and implementing urban projects requires skilled and trained human resources, a collaborative planning system, and stable and focused financial resources. As a result, in order to achieve sustainable financial resources and efficient human resources, the requirement to use the capacities of the private sector is justified. Meanwhile, living labs, as innovation-oriented approaches, try to present and implement ideas from outside sources for the development and commercialization of innovation so that relevant investigations and possible problems can be controlled in the test environments of living labs before widespread exploitation. Surveys showed that the co-creation approach is one of the basic approaches for developing urban living laboratories in efficient and creative urban management. In this regard, citizens can achieve active and political citizenship based on rights and obligations through co-creation. Citizens can see themselves as "builders" of public services and help solve problems by mobilizing forces and ideas that improve their quality of life. Other benefits of co-creation are deep access related to social justice and citizens' rights in the field of involvement in the city.







Methodology

The current research with the structural-interpretive model seeks to analyze the role of co-creation in the development of urban living laboratories in Zanjan city. Data collection was done in the form of survey and library studies. The statistical population includes 30 elite people who were selected by snowball sampling. The identification of the indicators of the urban living laboratory was done using the foundational data theory in the form of a semi-structured interview with the help of MAXQDA software. After determining the condition and the main factors through foundational data theory, structural equation modeling has been used. Structural equation modeling has been used after determining the condition and the main factors through foundational data theory. The structural equation model is a family of statistical techniques used to systematically analyze multivariate data to measure theoretical structures (latent variables) and relationships between them. A structural equation model consists of two parts as the first part contains the measurement model that defines the relationship between manifest variables (measured) and latent variables (estimated or factors). The second part also includes the structural model that specifies how the factors are related. In this research, the six variables of urban living laboratories (social justice, productivity, infrastructure, environment, information and communication technology, quality of life) were identified as dependent variables and co-creation as dependent variables.



Results and discussion

In order to achieve a coherent theoretical framework in the development of living urban labs, especially in Zanjan city as one of the pilot cities in the development of the IT city in the country, the present study, with the help of the urban co-creation approach, based on the opinions of experts active in this field, proceeded to formulate a research framework. It is coherent and extracts the desired indicators in this field. In this context, the foundation data theory method has been used as thematic analysis using Max Kyuda qualitative software to extract indicators based on the opinions of the statistical community of experts. The output of this method is the extraction of 98 components and 10 categories (6 components of urban living laboratory and 4 components of urban co-creation) from 326 open codes resulting from the analysis of 30 interviews. After extracting the indicators and compiling the questionnaire, the structural equation model was used to achieve a detailed study framework of the role of urban co-creation in the development of living laboratories in Zanjan.



Conclusion

According to the beta coefficient of 1.983, the relationship between co-creation and urban living laboratories is significant, and the participation of urban stakeholders can play an effective role in creating urban living laboratories in order to implement construction and infrastructure projects in Zanjan. In the meantime, the studies showed that the environmental index, with a standard beta coefficient of 16.622, and the social justice structure, with a standard beta coefficient of 16.009, influence urban co-creation. Therefore, in order to achieve a coherent mechanism in the "co-creation of projects based on urban living laboratories", we need to strengthen the infrastructure of social justice and the implementation of environment-oriented projects. On the opposite point, the structure of "conversation," with a coefficient of 3.584, and the structure of flexibility, with a coefficient of 2.759, have the most significant effect on strengthening urban co-creation. By strengthening the aforementioned structures, it is possible to successfully develop participation and co-creation among the beneficiaries of urban projects in Zanjan city.

According to the results of theoretical and qualitative and quantitative findings, in order to strengthen the role of co-creation in the development of urban living laboratories in Zanjan city, the following are suggested:

Sharing the experiences of professors and experts and constructive dialogue with stakeholders in order to prioritize services and inform through social media in order to strengthen urban co-creation and advance the goals of urban living laboratories.

Supporting new and comprehensive urban development ideas and informing stakeholders to participate in idea generation through creating and developing communication networks between citizens and organizations in charge of urban development.

Upgrading and updating collaborative skills through applying multiple skills in challenging situations and adopting appropriate strategies to improve co-creation in order to advance urban development goals in the form of living urban laboratories.

Providing clear, complete and understandable information for all the beneficiaries of urban projects in the context of urban living laboratories.