Services for sustainable future lifestyle in smart blocks—empowering people to make a difference

Abstract

Abstract It is crucial to find new ways to support the ecological, economic and social sustainability of the built environment in the urban context. This paper aims to contribute new knowledge on service opportunities related to sustainable future urban lifestyles and thus to support the sustainability progress of the built environment. The paper is based on an on-going abductive study. As a main conceptual contribution, the tentative illustration of key elements of service innovations for future sustainable urban living is presented. The empirical results highlighted three issues related to realising service opportunities that can support the needed transformation of urban living. These are: 1) the systemic nature of the required change and contribution of multiple stakeholders, 2) as a consequence the need for co-creation in the ecosystem was acknowledged and 3) the need for better indicators for evaluating and communicating the threefold sustainability impact in such a way that it takes into account the future of urban living. The illustration and the empirical insights provide several avenues for future studies including the on-going study. These together with the main limitations of the study are summarised at the end of the paper.