The article is devoted to the philosophical and methodological analysis of the phenomenon of «real-world lab» in the context of the paradigm of transdisciplinarity and the principle of participation. The duality of real laboratories is shown: as transdisciplinary and transformative incubators, they not only produce new forms of collective knowledge, but also transform social reality. The epistemological and socio-cultural potential of «real-world lab» as focal points for future cultures of sustainability is described. For a deeper understanding of the mechanism of functioning of real laboratories, methods of technology assessment are used, as well as the theory of communicative rationality by J. Habermas.
technology assessment; real-world laboratory; trans-disciplinarity; principle of participation; deliberative practices; theory of communicative rationality.