Exploring (De)politicization in policy-driven urban sustainability experiments: Insights from a case study in Amsterdam

• Urban experiments could transform urban areas toward more sustainable ones. • The political dimensions of experimentation often remains undiscussed in practice. • Applies heuristic to dissect the political in daily practice of experimentation. • Shows that ignoring the political hampers experiments’ change potential. • Calls for a more politicized approach to urban experimentation. Urban experimentation has gained traction with (supra-)national and local politics as a method for catalyzing change in urban systems and practices. Yet, with experiments becoming more commonly driven by established actors, concerns persist about their potential to sidestep political issues of power, exclusion and conflict fundamental to societal change. This paper seeks to unpack what exactly is at stake when the political is ignored or neutralized during an urban experiment. Using theories on the political as an analytical lens, the paper presents a case study of an urban experiment in Amsterdam, dissecting the ways in which (de)politicization operates in the experiment. The findings demonstrate that ignoring the political in urban experimentation risks excluding certain voices and options from being considered, which ultimately leads to stagnation. The paper concludes by outlining future challenges for research and practice that addresses (de)politicization in urban experiments.