“How do we overcome this?” expansive potential of community collaboration in urban development

Background The study aimed to investigate the collaboration of different stakeholders in the systematic change process of a neighborhood. Five community workshops, as formative intervention, in urban development were conducted in the City of Espoo, Finland.Methods The activity-theoretical methodology and research methods enabled to identify the expansive learning actions and how the object of activity transformed during the community workshops.Findings The study showed that the expansive learning actions helped the residents and civil servants collectively resolve contradictions such as dilemmas, conflicts, and double binds. This in turn enabled them to see the developmental potential of their activities and to take actions to transform them. The findings revealed that different types of contradictions can lead to different solutions with expansive, potentially expansive, and non-expansive learning. The community workshop method provided a structure for examining a complex urban situation, which facilitated collective problem-solving.Contribution This study revealed a learning process in the context of urban development by addressing contradictions as valuable resources for learning and development. Expansive learning actions emerged through the systematic collaboration between civil society and civil servants.