Using the right words or using the words right? Re-conceptualising living labs for systemic innovation in socio-ecological systems

Mediterranean rural systems, understood as socio-ecological systems (SES), often face complex sustainability challenges arising from the structural coupling of ecological and socioeconomic processes, climatic pressures, and weak adaptive capacities. Living labs are gradually gaining ground as an approach to tackling complex sustainability challenges. However, the existing literature is urban-focused and little attention has been paid to the implementation of living labs in rural contexts. This study fills this gap by addressing whether the increasingly popular living lab approach is suitable for pursuing systemic innovation for sustainable development in rural SES. Through a systematic review of the existing literature, this paper offers a contemporary perspective on living labs as models to support systemic innovation and governance of rural SES, while also accounting for previous interpretations of the concept. The paper then moves to a critical discussion of the main constraints on living lab conceptualisation and operationalisation and provides several recommendations for more effective and transparent use of living labs in rural SES. We argue that it is paramount to recognise living labs not solely as laboratories to validate techno-scientific solutions, but also as living systems that can be designed as social learning spaces to improve situations of complexity and uncertainty. In this sense, the success of living labs is contingent upon the willingness and capacity of both stakeholders and researchers to remain actively engaged in social learning and co-creation processes.