The Open Living Lab

The Open Living Lab is a proposal for a series of projects using networked environmental sensors and other tools for studying the environment of a model urban location, based in Milton Keynes, centred around the OU campus. We propose to establish a 'living lab', initially on the OU estate, and then, working with local partners, to extend this to other nearby sites. The proposal forms part of a growing body of research activity in urban ecology and environmental science at the OU and would serve multiple objectives, including:

• providing a novel applied research site,
• providing data for real-world student research,
• informing the OU Estates team on improving environmental management,
• delivering a programme of engaged research with important local partners.

Most of the world's population now lives in urban areas. In the UK, the population is overwhelmingly urban, with around 84% of people living in towns and cities. Urban expansion to cope with this growing population has had a significant impact on the environment through land use change, heat, noise, light and chemical pollution. The nature of the urban environment also has an impact on the people living there, with health and wellbeing effects of the presence or absence of urban green infrastructure. As the UK and global climate changes, challenges of urban environments will also change. These factors all demand more, and more detailed research on urban environments.

Milton Keynes is a model urban landscape that typifies the recent expansion of the urban into the wider countryside. The Walton Hall campus sits within this area of expansion and provides an ideal base for a living lab for the study of urban environments. There is already a body of research activity in urban environmental science at the OU, including work on urban trees (e.g. the T reeView Earth observation mission , the  Treezilla  project) and interdisciplinary (cross-faculty) initiatives in urban ecology (e.g. the  NATUrE group  and the OpenEcologies group) as well as our well established expertise in citizen science. The University has seen a significant growth in enrolments for Environmental Science BSc in recent years, and providing authentic opportunities for these students to engage with research through their programmes of study is an increasing challenge that this initiative would address.

We propose to establish a ‘Living Lab’ for research and education on urban environments and human-nature connections on the Walton Hall campus on the land adjacent to the River Ouzel. This area has been identified with the Walton Hall Estates team as suitable as this area will not be built on due to the proximity to the river. The establishment of the Living Lab will involve ecosystem regeneration of a floodplain woodland, and the installation and development of monitoring and digital infrastructure for a potentially global reach.

There is already a range of research and teaching activity which uses assets on the campus estate. This is a selection of things we have already done which illustrate some of the need and opportunity for a more formalised living lab .

Our initial proposal is for a living lab set up on the OU campus, making use of the adjacent river Ouzel. This would require some capital works to set up power and wifi connections and installation of a series of environmental sensors. Improvements in sensor technology and data processing pipelines mean that research-grade sensors are now available 'off-the-shelf' at affordable prices, and generating ready to use data outputs. Not only does this mean that the living lab could generate 'real-world' research data for OU students, but would allow us to pilot full academic research alongside undergraduate studies.

We estimate an approximate cost of £25,000 for the initial capital works and sufficient sensors to set up a pilot living lab. Some examples of potential sensors are below.

The OU Living Lab would provide a valuable resource for teaching, research and estates management. A relatively modest initial setup cost would offer an opportunity for research-led teaching, real-world undergraduate research, piloting full academic research ideas, and engaged research with local partners.