What if tourism could become a catalyst for social cohesion, healthy urban development, and regenerative placemaking? The Urban Leisure and Tourism Living Lab (ULTL), with locations in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, is proving that it can.
Rooted in the Inholland University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, the ULTL has developed a unique approach to urban transformation by viewing tourism not as an end, but as a means – a lens through which we can understand and improve quality of life in urban environments.
In a recent conversation, Iris Kerst and Donagh Horgan shared insights into the Lab’s philosophy, its collaborative ecosystem, and how it’s changing the way cities think about tourism.
The Living Lab began over a decade ago in Amsterdam as a placemaking initiative, and it has since evolved into a dual-site laboratory for innovation in urban leisure and tourism. While both locations operate under one vision, each responds to the distinct character of its city. In Amsterdam North, the Lab is embedded in a former Chinese restaurant, in a traditionally working-class neighborhood, now experiencing rapid gentrification. In Rotterdam South, it inhabits a former bank building surrounded by a community shaped by port workers and post-war reconstruction.
By situating themselves outside the usual tourist hotspots, the Living Lab focuses on hyperlocal engagement, working side-by-side with residents, entrepreneurs, municipalities, and students. Their goal? To explore how tourism can serve communities – rather than overwhelm them.
One of the Lab’s most distinctive features is its integration with education. Students from diverse disciplines – ranging from marketing to dental hygiene – join the Lab for semesters or graduation projects that are deeply embedded in local communities. These are not hypothetical assignments: students co-design real interventions, test ideas, and contribute meaningfully to their neighborhoods.
From the “Story Bench” in Amsterdam, where passersby can listen to audio stories about the future of their neighborhood, to a community-designed mural in Rotterdam that tackles safety and public space perceptions, each project reflects the Lab’s commitment to co-creation, trust-building, and visible, incremental change.
“Sometimes it’s more about placemaking than tourism itself,” Iris shares. “We’re helping create places that are sustainable, safe, and fun.”
At the heart of the Living Lab’s success is its ability to build and maintain trust-based relationships with external stakeholders across the public and private sectors. The Lab regularly collaborates with the municipalities of both Amsterdam and Rotterdam, co-developing strategies for sustainable tourism, regenerative urban planning, and climate adaptation.
These aren’t one-off projects – they are continuous partnerships. The city of Amsterdam, for example, often consults the Lab on how to decentralise tourism and distribute its benefits more evenly across neighborhoods. The Lab contributes directly to municipal talk shows, strategic studies, and long-term policymaking, particularly on topics like overtourism and regional tourism development.
In Rotterdam, collaboration goes beyond city officials to include regional stakeholders and commercial developers. The Lab works closely with institutions such as Rotterdam Ahoy, a major entertainment venue, and developers like Heijmans who are actively reshaping the areas around the Lab’s location. These companies seek the Lab’s guidance not just on development, but on how to ensure social impact and inclusivity are at the heart of change.
Hotels, airlines, and even retail spaces are also drawn into the ecosystem. Some now see themselves not just as commercial entities but as community anchors – “living rooms” of their neighborhoods. These partnerships are nurtured through co-created projects, workshops, and design sessions that address mutual goals around local engagement, identity, and sustainability.
And in a bold move toward a “quintuple helix” model, the Living Lab is even involving nature as a stakeholder. With student projects focusing on urban animals like geese and rooftop biodiversity – including bee habitats that could yield hyperlocal honey – the Lab is reimagining how city ecosystems can function and who gets a seat at the table.
The Lab doesn’t shy away from the complexities of community engagement. Projects don’t always succeed in the traditional sense – but they always offer insight. Whether it’s participation fatigue, skepticism from young people, or mistrust from local residents, the team sees every challenge as an opportunity to reflect and adapt.
Donagh explains: “The Living Lab approach gives us the space to fail safely and adjust. We don’t see projects as failures, but as part of a larger process of learning.”
The Lab’s work is grounded in a deep belief that all urban actors – residents, businesses, governments, nature, and tourists – must be engaged in shaping the future of our cities. Their membership in the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) has provided them with valuable tools, methodologies, and a vibrant peer community to support this mission.
“We found our place in the ENoLL network not only to exchange knowledge,” Iris says, “but to help shape a wider understanding of how tourism can contribute to healthy, inclusive cities.”
When asked what advice they’d give to others wanting to start a Living Lab, Iris and Donagh don’t hesitate: “Just do it. Build your ecosystem, work with your community, and let the Lab be a method, not a goal.”
Through small, thoughtful actions and large-scale collaborations, the Urban Leisure and Tourism Living Lab is showing how tourism – done differently – can bring real value to people, places, and the planet.
The interview has been taken by Andrada Barață, Head of Communications at ENoLL with Iris Kerst and Donagh Horgan from Urban Leisure and Tourism Living Lab.
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