Participatory design for sustainable social change

What is it that makes participation in design participatory design?

“…Given the plurality and diversity of PD, and of the different communities in which it is applied, what is it that makes it participatory design rather than something else? Indeed, given the dilution of the term 'participation' (Smith and Iversen 2018) it is less certain whether different communities are using the term, as well as the motivations and concepts that underscore participatory design, in the same sense. What are the common themes, characteristics and qualities that connect across different applications of participatory design.…”

Navigating between an End-goal and a 'Readiness to be Affected': A Virtual Reality Briefing to the United Nations Security Council

“…How can one stay open to what presents itself within a situation in order to leverage its transformative potential, while pursuing a collectively acceptable objective, especially in risk-averse and bureaucratic settings? These questions lay at the heart of current Participatory Design research and initiatives that tend to shift from co-designing a mutual outcome or a multi-stakeholder response to known issues, to 'infrastructuring' long-term changes considered as part of larger and complex transformations (Binder et al, 2011;Smith & Iversen, 2018). As Le Dantec and DiSalvo (2013) pointed out, Participatory Design as infrastructuring moves away from a technocratic view of innovation and is attentive to social interactions and actions that arise from constituting a 'public'.…”

“…Estas preguntas constituyen el núcleo de las investigaciones e iniciativas actuales sobre diseño participativo, que tienden a desplazarse desde el co-diseño de un resultado final o una respuesta de múltiples stakeholders a problemas conocidos, hacia la "infraestructuración" de cambios a largo plazo, considerados como partes de transformaciones más grandes y complejas (Binder et al, 2011;Smith & Iversen, 2018). Como señalaron Le Dantec y DiSalvo (2013), el diseño participativo como práctica de infraestructuración se aleja de una visión tecnocrática de la innovación y está atento a las interacciones sociales y acciones que surgen en la constitución de un "público".…”

Design Engagements at the Margins of the Global South: De-Centering the “Expert” Within Me

“…Therefore, our ability to listen to and engage with culturally diverse narratives, not only facilitate empathic dialogue and foreground the unheard voices, but also orient the design processes towards plurality and ecology of knowledge [41,42]. Thus, co-developing and exploration of avenues with diverse stakeholders as well as creation of spaces for mutual learning from underserved voices and practices are instrumental (i) to understand the situated realities and the nuances experientially and (ii) to sustainably address the situated needs, aspirations and goals at the margins [8,12,43].…”

“…Furthermore, McMahon & Bhamra [10] have shown that the shifting paradigms of design are aligning increasingly with user-led (instead of material-led), and seeking to address wider social-/human-needs. In making design more humane, sustainable and socially embedded, inclusion of marginalized voices and agencies, methodological flexibility, reflexive design thinking (e.g., "what you do, how we do it, and why we do what we do" [11]), and attitude of learning from the below are crucial [12]. In other words, we need to be mindfully proactive and socio-culturally engage to bring about sustained transformation in the society [13].…”