Visions that change. Articulating the politics of participatory design

ABSTRACT

In this paper we draw upon the articles included in this special issue to question how to re-politicise co-design and participatory design (PD). Many authors in these fields have recently made a plea to re-engage with ‘big issues’ as a way to address this concern. At the same time, there is an increased attention into the micro-politics of the relations that are built-in co-design and PD. These two approaches are sometimes presented as working against each other with a de-politicising dynamic as a result. The editorial hypothesis of this issue is that designing visions can turn the tension between addressing the big issues and close attention to the particularity of relations into a motor for re-politicising design. Through engaging with literature, the articles presented in this issue, and two fieldwork cases that explore this dynamic, we discovered that paying careful attention to the activity of designing visions can support re-politicisation. While visions enable us to develop relations with close attention to their politics, building relations supports a more political approach to designing visions on issues. We argue that vision-making can particularly support re-politicisation when it enables the articulation of the political by relating its situated reality to how it unfolds in space and time.     

A review of computerized hospital layout modelling techniques and their ethical implications

PurposeThis paper reviews an area of interdisciplinary collaboration in the design of healthcare facilities that attempts to optimize hospital space-planning using automated statistical techniques from the discipline of Operations Research (OR). This review articulates Facility Layout Problems (FLPs) as a general class of OR problems. Furthermore, the review highlights limitations of these techniques, which necessitate an ethical and participatory engagement with computerized processes of healthcare architecture.Design/methodology/approachAn in-depth critical review was carried out, which revealed a number of common themes, collectively theorized as metamodeling processes, or models of models, through which various FLP modelling techniques can be challenged and debated in terms of their architectural viability, and ethical ramifications.FindingsThis review provides a methodological basis for the further evaluation of computational models. It was found that most of the reviewed studies are functionally focused on flow efficiency and, in general, do not consider broader contextual, relational, social, or salutogenic design values.Originality/valueThis review is the first on the subject written from an architectural perspective. It can be used by a broad range of readers as its critical review of past and present hospital layout modelling techniques discusses their capabilities and limitations. As such, it also enables them to consider ethical values while critiquing the epistemology of computational processes hidden beneath algorithmic outputs.     

Optimal spaces for those living with dementia: principles and evidence

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a synthesis of diverse and disparate evidence in the research literature that provide insights into the impacts of aspects of the built environment on the wellbeing of those living with dementia. The individually focused findings are structured into a set of practical design parameters driven by three overarching needs-driven design principles: manageable cognitive load, clear sequencing and appropriate level of stimulation. These needs are contextualized within a general model that suggests that action in any one area (such as the built environment) also has to take into account other key dimensions, namely any support from the caring/social environment and any pharmacological treatment. Addressing these elements holistically should maximize the opportunity to improve the quality of life of the individual. This paper, however, explicitly focuses on the built environment.     

Co-designing for common values: creating hybrid spaces to nurture autonomous cooperation

ABSTRACT

The paper concerns the development of digitally-mediated technologies that value social cooperation as a common good rather than as a source of revenue and accumulation. The paper discusses the activities that shaped a European participatory design project which aims to develop a digital space that promotes and facilitates the ‘Commonfare’, a complementary approach to social welfare. The paper provides and discusses concrete examples of design artifacts to address a key question about the role of co- and participatory design in developing hybrid spaces that nurture sharing and autonomous cooperation: how can co-design practices promote alternatives to the commodification of digitally-mediated cooperation? The paper argues for a need to focus on relational, social, political and ethical values, and highlights the potential power of co- and participatory design processes to achieve this. In summary, the paper proposes that only by re-asserting the centrality of shared values and capacities, rather than individual needs or problems, co-design can reposition itself thereby encouraging autonomous cooperation.     

Framework of emergence: from chain of value to value constellation

ABSTRACT

For academic design programmes and research councils, finding mechanisms to measure impact and valuate co-design research projects is very difficult. The metric parameters – number of attendees, volume, shape, length – have shown to be insufficient. The subject matter, the subjects and matters, do not easily fit within these parameters, which fail to translate the value of a ‘constellation of affections’ that emerge throughout co-design processes. Emphasis on quantifiable impact derives from particular ways of understanding production, reproduction, and dissemination of knowledge. This paper understands academic design programmes as a technology to discuss axiology in co-design practices. This paper re-configures a techno-logic of value; from chain of value to value constellation, intersecting a co-design case study with readings of Simondon’s philosophy of technology and Barad’s agential realism. Ageing Playfully was a knowledge exchange project from The Creative Exchange programme, that involved people living with dementia and their caregivers co-designing interventions to boost mobility and well-being. At the core, this paper, explores an axiological move that informs a framework of emergence, a way of thinking in methods to account for the value of co-design as site of emergence.     

Co-designing with people living with dementia

This paper presents research that illustrates how design thought and action has contributed to the co-design and development of a mass-produced product with people living with dementia. The research, undertaken in collaboration with Alzheimer Scotland, has adopted a range of disruptive design interventions for breaking the cycle of well-formed opinions, strategies, mindsets, and ways-of-doing, that tend to remain unchallenged in the health and social care of people living with dementia. The research has resulted in a number of co-designed interventions that will help change the perception of dementia by showing that people living with dementia can offer much to UK society after diagnosis. Moreover, it is envisaged that the co-designed activities and interventions will help reconnect people recently diagnosed with dementia to help build their self-esteem, identity and dignity and help keep the person with dementia connected to their community, thus delaying the need for formal support and avoid the need for crisis responses. The paper reports on an initial intervention where the author worked collaboratively with over 130 people diagnosed with dementia across Scotland in the co-design and development of a new tartan. The paper concludes with a number of recommendations for researchers when co-designing with people living with dementia.     

Mobile Design as Neighborhood Acupuncture: Activating the Storytelling Networks of South Los Angeles

Abstract

A delicate touch is required to empower neighborhoods using civic media. Funding is persistently scarce. Especially in marginalized neighborhoods, blunt designs can be counterproductive and even entrench complex problems. New metaphors may be needed to guide design and empower local neighborhoods. Urban acupuncture is used as the basis for this study, emphasizing a light-touch strategy that has shown success in Brazil with urban transit, and more recently in Europe with urban design. We specifically propose “neighborhood acupuncture” to address the local level, tapping the sociology of place-based communication. To investigate the implications for systematic design, a case study is probed in South Los Angeles using mobile media for community mapping. Using qualitative methods, three tactics were investigated for the potential to “poke” the network into action, including one to bridge diverse storytelling networks. Each tactic ultimately seeks to build the capacity for collective action around neighborhood issues. Acupuncture is broadly argued to sustain two design shifts: first to help approach neighborhoods as ecosystems, and second, to design for circulation rather than any single technology platform.     

Dynamic goal programming synthetic indicator: an application for water companies sustainability assessment

ABSTRACT

This study proposes to evaluate the sustainability of water companies through time by using a new approach, one that involves a dynamic synthetic indicator derived from goal programming techniques. This dynamic indicator approach incorporates catch-up and innovation indices, which enables one to identify the main factors that drive changes in sustainability through time. We used a case study approach to clarify this dynamic approach by evaluating indicator values from a sample of 129 Portuguese water companies over the 2012 to 2015 time period. For most of the water companies we evaluated, sustainability values changed over time, which illustrates the importance of evaluating dynamic sustainability. For each examined water company, we quantified whether changes in sustainability were due to external and/or internal factors. The indicator approach we proposed should be useful for water regulators evaluating the effectiveness of policies aimed at improving a water company’s sustainability.     

Infrastructure as Practice

Abstract

To design infrastructure is to design a built form that can be generative and directive: it has the potential to create place and suggest future growth. Yet transportation infrastructure in North America is routinely designed as isolated, mono-functioning works of engineering. In urban areas, this singular approach often leaves areas of adjacent land as vacant and unviable public space discouraging to other patterns and modes of movement. Conversely, new infrastructure in dense urban areas could be developed that promotes public space and includes cultural and social agendas as primary generators of built urban form. This new approach would weave novel, responsive elements into an existing fabric, generating a multiplicity of connections, program, and places.     

How cultural knowledge shapes core design thinking—a situation specific analysis

Abstract

The growing trend of co-creation and co-design in cross-cultural design teams presents challenges for the design thinking process. We integrate two frameworks, one on reasoning patterns in design thinking, the other on the dynamic constructivist theory of culture, to propose a situation specific framework for the empirical analysis of design thinking in cross-cultural teams. We illustrate the framework with a qualitative analysis of 16 episodes of design related conversations, which are part of a design case study. The results show that cultural knowledge, either as shared by the cross-cultural team or group specific knowledge of some team members, shape the reasoning patterns in the design thinking process across all the 16 episodes. Most of the design discussions were approached by the designers as problem situations that were formulated in a backward direction, where the value to create was known first. Then the designers were using available cultural knowledge to articulate the unknown what to design (products/services) and how the design would work (the working principles of product/services). In conclusion, we demonstrate a novel approach for understanding how cultural knowledge shapes core design thinking in specific situations.     

Spatialising differently through ability and techné

ABSTRACT

This paper reflects on multisensorial and multimodal processes by considering spatial design differently through three case studies in Canada and Belgium that involved persons with visual impairments. Our research provokes alternative ways of ‘seeing’ and ‘being’ in the world and we assert that the normative ways that designers think, act, and design for/with people who have disabilities can be shifted when considering ableism and techné together. Our studies and methods differ from other design processes and methods, in that we situate design within an understanding of ableism and techné, where we encourage designers to reflect upon their ability biases in order to break assumptions about the abilities and disabilities of users and/or codesigners. Through exploring, observing and creating, nuanced examinations into ability and techné are revealed that support an intimate bond and an empathic response towards shaping the designers’ understanding of participants embodied and practical knowledge. Our case study research expands the ways of knowing and doing in codesign through ableism and techné with people who are visually impaired, to create inspiring and meaningful designs through multisensorial processes that are inclusive of ‘seeing’ in order to spatialise differently.     

Beauty in the eye of the design reviewer: the contested nature of UK design review

ABSTRACT

Design review is an independent expert-led mechanism, employed to evaluate the design quality of proposed developments. It claims an objective and transparent approach, yet has limited guidance on how, or what, reviewers should evaluate. Few studies focus on these reviewers or their attitudes and perceptions to the process. This research, using interviews and Q-Methodology, reveals key differences in how reviewers conceptualize and evaluate design quality within review. The paper argues design review is a contested mechanism, where subjective appraisal plays out alongside more objective approaches. Four competing reviewer priorities on the process are presented: sustainability; people/public; function; and visual aesthetics.     

COVALENT,a method for co-designing value exchange in community-centred design

Abstract

It is challenging to design for mutually beneficial relationships in a multi-actor service system when these actors have diverse and conflicting interests, and lack usable methods and tools that support the design process. This study introduces a novel method for co-designing value exchange (COVALENT). COVALENT integrates the value analysis model, co-design strategy and service design tools, to support the conceptualisation of reciprocal value exchanges based on the analysis of and matching between, stakeholders’ needs and resources. Its perceived effectiveness was validated through application to the development of community business models in Ulsan, South Korea. This study contributes to the knowledge of co-design by providing a method for co-designing services that aim to achieve reciprocal value exchanges in the context of community-centred design and by discussing the effectiveness of that method as perceived by users.     

Sharing a meal: a diversity of performances engendered by a social innovation

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the dynamics between social innovations and socio-spatial transformations using practice theory as linking pin. Social innovations, such as the case study of a meal sharing platform here presented, are considered as proposals. Using social practice theory as a theoretical lens enables us to explain how the principles of the proposal’s design are moderated and appropriated by its users. Consequently, familiar routinized practices expand, becoming more complex and hybrid. It is in the performance of the practice that this complexity is revealed. Specific focus is on the socio-spatial transformations that social innovations propose. This paper shows how tactics of appropriation can result in trespassing the boundaries between private and public, and between domestic and communitarian space. This way, we connect social innovations to DIY-urbanism, showing how citizens appropriate urban space.     

Usability tests of ideation flexibility tools with engineering design practitioners

Abstract

In an engineering context, ideation flexibility is defined as an engineer’s ability to move between his or her preferred and non-preferred ways of generating ideas as required by the current task. In this study, the usability of three specific tools for enhancing the ideation flexibility of engineers—the Problem Framing Guide, Design Heuristics and Cognitive Style-Based Teaming—was investigated with design practitioners in a real-world setting. The performance and perceptions of 16 professionals were analysed as they explored design problems and solutions using these tools in a 3-h workshop. Study outcomes show that all three tools have value in design ideation, with room for improvement in terms of structured instructions for their use. Additionally, results suggest that cognitive style does not influence an individual’s performance with or perceptions of these tools, which supports their value and validity for a general practitioner audience.     

失智特殊护理单元公共空间设计对老人行为的影响—— 以北京市两所养老设施为例

中国是全球失智老人数量最多的国家,不断增长的失智老人群体对专业化的养老机构需求迫切。然而,当前中国能够满足失智老人特殊照护需求的养老机构很少,对失智老人行为模式、空间需求的认识和研究不足,更缺少专业的护理环境设计应对。本研究通过对北京两个空间布局相异的失智老人特殊护理单元中公共空间的调研,连续观察记录了老人对公共空间的使用方式与行为。对比分析后发现公共空间中空间布局、家具细节、空间氛围、物理环境等环境因素对老人的空间利用、交流行为、活动开展等行为均会产生影响。最后对失智老人护理机构公共空间环境设计提出了相应建议。     

Using interactive model simulations in co-design: An experiment in urban design

This paper presents an experiment in which people performed a co-design task in urban design, using a multi-user touch table application with or without interactive model simulations. We hypothesised that using the interactive model simulations would improve communication and co-operation between co-design participants, would help participants to develop shared understanding and would positively affect the co-design process and its outcomes. However, our experiment (involving 60 people in 20 co-design sessions) only partly confirmed these hypotheses. People positively evaluated the interactive model simulation tools (an interactive map of an urban area, interactive models for traffic, sound, sight and safety, and ‘tangibles’), and these tools promoted communication and co-operation, and the exploration of design solutions. However, people's experiences of social cohesion and their satisfaction with their own contribution to the co-design process were better without these tools, possibly because using these tools drew people's attention towards these interactive model simulations and away from the dynamics between the participants. We therefore advocate using such tools selectively, for example, early on in a co-design process, to improve shared understanding of the contents of the problem, rather than later on, when people need to focus on their fellow participants and on the processes of communication and co-operation.     

失智老人疗愈性庭园设计原则：目的、依据与策略

在中国进入老龄化的社会背景下,应对老年失智症的负面影响是人居环境建设中不容回避的问题。失智老人疗愈性庭园作为康复景观的类型之一,可以有效缓解病症、提高生活质量、维护患者尊严并产生节省医疗开支的经济价值。从失智老人疗愈性庭园的设计目的、设计依据和设计策略三方面进行论述,总结出脑成像对应性、身心健康支持性、行为认知适应性和庭园使用优化性4个设计策略,并且通过案例研究对设计策略进行进一步阐释。     

Walkability vs. walking: assessing outcomes of walkability at Southeast False Creek,Vancouver, Canada

ABSTRACT

If a neighbourhood is designed and built according to best practices for walkable neighbourhood design, will people respond and walk in the public realm? This was a narrowly focused case study of a brownfield redevelopment in Vancouver, Canada, intentionally designed to be highly walkable. Methods included a Walk Score® analysis, both in-person and video observational studies of people using three public spaces over a nine-month period, supplemented with questionnaires. Observational studies and questionnaires revealed high numbers of people using the public spaces for walking and active mobility throughout the year in all weather conditions, validating a very high Walk Score®. However, the study also uncovered unexpected patterns of walking and motivations for walking, which reveals the value of post-occupancy observational and survey studies to fully understand how specific attributes of the neighbourhood landscape may significantly change what people value and how they use the public realm.     

Design for maintainability of high-rise vertical green facades

ABSTRACT

Since the introduction of vertical greenery systems (VGSs) in Singapore, building designers have experimented with different VGS designs and types to apply to high-rise building facades. Although innovative designs have brought variety to the utilitarian high-rise facades clad in glass, steel and concrete, little consideration has been given to the issues of maintainability during the design/planning stage. This lack of foresight and planning has hindered the efforts of maintenance personnel and compromised the performance of such green facades. To address these concerns, an instrumental case study approach was undertaken using a series of site investigations and interviews with experts and stakeholders. The aim of this research was to strengthen the knowledge base on high-rise vertical greenery facades in the tropics, leading to the formulation of case study-based ‘design for maintainability’ (DfM) guidelines. These guidelines will assist clients, designers and contractors by providing a supplemental reference during the design, installation and maintenance of high-rise VGSs located in tropical regions.