Abstract
Although one can observe an emerging trend towards concepts of sharing and collaborative consumption, we argue that appropriate systems of knowledge sharing are still underrepresented in local communities – especially within an inter-generational context. We further argue that proper understanding of the needs and motivations of stakeholders in a specific local setting is required in order to successfully implement design interventions, especially those that lead to self-driven and sustainable learning activities among different stakeholder groups. The presented ongoing research project Neighborhood Labs introduces our methods for approaching a complex local social setting that is characterized by inhabitants with diverging biographical backgrounds and diverging lifestyles. It also discusses our understanding of “living labs” which is supported by what we call an “ambassador approach”.