Background
The ideas and practice of community-led design, participatory design or co-design have a long-standing tradition, especially in the context of urban design, planning and architecture. Following human rights movements in the 1960s, the growing sense that people should be directly involved in the development of their physical environment led to a variety of landmark initiatives. It influenced the practice of design and planning professionals who sought to develop new methods for participation; it led to the creation of community centres and organizations offering design and planning services; and germinated governmental initiatives and grants to support citizen participation.
Community-led design goes beyond the one-dimensional process of consultation, helping involve people in decision-making throughout the design process, from visioning to implementation. There are many benefits from this approach, from improving civic participation and ensuring more democratic outcomes, to creating a strong sense of community and strengthening people’s attachment to their place and to each other, to producing more sustainable solutions.
However, 50 years after the first community-led design initiatives, and although the practice of professionals and organisations involved has matured, community-led design is far from being mainstream in design and planning practice. An essential part of this problem is that the benefits of the approach are not thoroughly understood, measured or disseminated. The project aims to grapple with this problem, by exploring how a better case for community-led design can be made. This involves collecting and sharing evidence of good practice, collaboratively exploring measures of value and impact, and importantly, identifying ways for articulating and disseminating the benefits of community-led design. Grappling with this problem is of particular relevance at this particular time, with the emerging Localism agenda and the National Planning Policy Framework, which foresee an increased need for early and meaningful engagement and collaboration with communities.
Bibliography
Alexiou, K. and Zamenopoulos, T. (2008) ‘Design as a social process: a complex systems perspective’, Futures, 40(6): 586-595.
Burgess, J., Foth, J. and Klaebe, H. (2006) ‘Everyday creativity as civic engagement: a cultural citizenship view of new media’. In Proceedings Communications Policy & Research Forum, Sydney.
CABE (2009) Making the invisible visible: the real value of park assets. CABE
Coates, T. (2006) ‘What do we do with “social media”?’ Plastic Bag. Retrieved 04/05/2004 from http://www.plasticbag.org/archives/2006/03/what_do_we_do_with_social_media.shtml
Guetzkow, J. (2002) ‘How the Arts Impact Communities: An introduction to the literature on arts impact studies’. Working Paper Series 20, Centre for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Princeton University.
IXIA (2009) Public art: a guide to evaluation. Ixia PA Limited
Multrie, J. and Livesey, F. (2009) International design scorecard. Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge.
Places Matter! (2009) Economic value of good design in a recession. Places Matter!
Sanoff, H. (2006) ‘Multiple views of participatory design’. METU JFA, 23 (2): 131-143.
Scholtz, T. (2011) ‘Motivating people to participate’. Retrieved 10/09/2011 from http://www.slideshare.net/trebor/motivating-people-to-participate
Community-led design goes beyond the one-dimensional process of consultation, helping involve people in decision-making throughout the design process, from visioning to implementation. There are many benefits from this approach, from improving civic participation and ensuring more democratic outcomes, to creating a strong sense of community and strengthening people’s attachment to their place and to each other, to producing more sustainable solutions.
However, 50 years after the first community-led design initiatives, and although the practice of professionals and organisations involved has matured, community-led design is far from being mainstream in design and planning practice. An essential part of this problem is that the benefits of the approach are not thoroughly understood, measured or disseminated. The project aims to grapple with this problem, by exploring how a better case for community-led design can be made. This involves collecting and sharing evidence of good practice, collaboratively exploring measures of value and impact, and importantly, identifying ways for articulating and disseminating the benefits of community-led design. Grappling with this problem is of particular relevance at this particular time, with the emerging Localism agenda and the National Planning Policy Framework, which foresee an increased need for early and meaningful engagement and collaboration with communities.
Bibliography
Alexiou, K. and Zamenopoulos, T. (2008) ‘Design as a social process: a complex systems perspective’, Futures, 40(6): 586-595.
Burgess, J., Foth, J. and Klaebe, H. (2006) ‘Everyday creativity as civic engagement: a cultural citizenship view of new media’. In Proceedings Communications Policy & Research Forum, Sydney.
CABE (2009) Making the invisible visible: the real value of park assets. CABE
Coates, T. (2006) ‘What do we do with “social media”?’ Plastic Bag. Retrieved 04/05/2004 from http://www.plasticbag.org/archives/2006/03/what_do_we_do_with_social_media.shtml
Guetzkow, J. (2002) ‘How the Arts Impact Communities: An introduction to the literature on arts impact studies’. Working Paper Series 20, Centre for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Princeton University.
IXIA (2009) Public art: a guide to evaluation. Ixia PA Limited
Multrie, J. and Livesey, F. (2009) International design scorecard. Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge.
Places Matter! (2009) Economic value of good design in a recession. Places Matter!
Sanoff, H. (2006) ‘Multiple views of participatory design’. METU JFA, 23 (2): 131-143.
Scholtz, T. (2011) ‘Motivating people to participate’. Retrieved 10/09/2011 from http://www.slideshare.net/trebor/motivating-people-to-participate