Critical Making Critical Niches: a conceptual framework for co-design in energy transitions.

This paper presents a conceptual framework and co-design method for co-design in living labs for energy transitions in the Global South. A series of three structured reviews are presented, covering the fields of co-design, living labs, energy transitions and the Global South. These reviews were used to systematically find gaps in the knowledge, isolate the overlapping problems in these fields and find the theoretical frameworks used for addressing these problems. The relevant theoretical frameworks were then synthesized into an overarching co-design approach for living labs to address the overlapping issues particular to the Global South context. These issues were power dynamics and knowledge differences between stakeholders. The conceptual framework developed, namely: Critical Making, Critical Niches, provides researchers and designers with a tool for addressing these problems while bringing them to light in design projects and living labs for energy transitions in the Global South.