Action Labs
Action labs bring together diverse groups to work on a shared sustainability challenge through collective exploration and experimentation. With this format, we create a focused setting where learning, testing, and reflection can unfold alongside action. The duration can vary depending on needs and the program is tailored to the participants.
learning by doing, together
Action labs create space to explore challenges through shared action rather than abstract discussion. By engaging multiple perspectives and areas of experience, issues are approached from different angles, allowing assumptions, tensions, and opportunities to surface through practice. The emphasis on experimentation supports learning as something that unfolds over time. Insights emerge through trying, reflecting, and adjusting together, which helps build shared responsibility for direction and outcomes.
the experience: action labs
The duration and intensity of action labs are adapted to context and ambition, ranging from short, focused sprints to longer, iterative processes. This flexibility allows the process to respond to what the participants learn and develop along the way. Formats typically combine problem framing, collaborative work sessions, and facilitated reflection. Reflection is not merely considered a wrap-up, but as an integrated part of the work, creating space to pause, take stock, and adjust direction along the way. This helps connect experience to next steps and allows insights to accumulate, inform decisions, and shape efforts beyond the action lab itself.
case examples
resources and inspiration
Social Lab
A collaborative space for systemic change. Use experimentation and prototyping to solve complex social challenges.
En-ROADS role play
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