A mapping study on living labs: Characteristics, smart cities initiatives, challenges and software architecture aspects

A Living lab (LL) allows the development of systems in a user-driven fashion in realistic environments. Despite the idea behind LL is promising, its development is still an open problem. This occurs in part because the concept of LL is still in development, does not have clear boundaries, and the discussion around the theme transcends many disciplines. We have faced some of these uncertainties when a customer asked us to develop a LL environment for Smart Cities. This scenario motivated us to perform a mapping study with the purpose of characterizing LLs, their challenges, domains where they can be applied, and software architecture aspects related to the theme. As result, 51 primary studies were identified and six aspects of them were analyzed: LL characteristics, application domains, LLs smart cities initiatives, challenges, and current evidence on software architecture for LL. The results are beneficial for both researchers and practitioners. For researchers, this work provides information about the current status of LL research, as well as topics that require further investigation. For practitioners, the paper discusses challenges that they need to be prepared to face when developing LLs, as well as aspects related to software architecture and considered application domains. The organized set of information can support development teams on the conception of new LLs.