Concerns exist regarding the controlling and restricting nature of today’s recommender systems. The trend is towards serving predictable, popular and homogeneous content, which is often referred to as “filter bubbles”. In an urban context, this means that people are no longer exposed to the diversity of cities and their inhabitants, which has negative consequences for the open and democratic character of the city. This is a timely issue that needs urgent attention and there is a

societal call for a transition towards applications that promote serendipity. However, what is missing today is a clear understanding of the meaning and value of serendipity in urban environments, and how this can be engendered in digital applications. In this project, we will develop such an understanding and identify the potential role of governing organisations in introducing serendipity to urban information systems. Additionally, the project will investigate how developers can design for serendipity. This will be studied on the level of data, algorithms and design. This approach is inspired by the theory of affordances and the findings that (digital) environments can be designed to afford serendipity. The affordances (in terms of data, algorithms and design) will be designed, developed and validated using Living Lab methodologies in three urban pilot scenarios. To support this Living Lab approach, a novel research methodology will be developed to study users’ experienced serendipity.