Radical Participatory Design

Awareness of Participation

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47061/jasc.v2i2.3816

Keywords:

participatory design, participatory research, decolonizing design, research justice, design justice, critical design, (relational) action research, relational ontology, relational epistemology, community-based action research, action research

Abstract

Design has been a massive failure. It has functioned in the service of industry and capitalism, leaving us a world with several crises which we are failing to resolve. The onto-epistemic framework out of which this type of design injustice emerges is coloniality, highlighting a trans-locally experienced truth: our ontologies are our epistemologies. And our onto-epistemologies are our namologies–studies, perspectives, types, or ways of designing. If we instead embody an onto-epistemic framework of relationality, our design process becomes radically participatory. Radical Participatory Design (RPD) is meta-methadology that is participatory to the root or core. Using the models “designer as community member,” “community member as designer,” and “community member as facilitator,” RPD prioritizes relational, cultural, and spiritual knowledge, as well as lived experiential knowledge, over mainstream, institutional knowledge. Based on the experiential knowledge of employing radical participatory design over many years, we have induced a characteristic definition of RPD. Through an awareness of participation, we discuss the various benefits of RPD including genuine inclusion, true human-centeredness, moving beyond human-centeredness, embedded empathy, trauma-responsive design, and systemic action. We discuss the ethics of Radical Participatory design from both an equality and equity perspective. We offer ways of evaluating the success of the radically participatory design process. Lastly, we discuss the barriers and ways we have overcome them in our projects.

References

Anaissie, T., Cary, V., Clifford, D., Malarkey, T., & Wise, S. (2021). Liberatory design. https://www.liberatorydesign.com

Arnold, R., & Schön, M. (2021). The reflexible person: Toward an epistemological learning culture. Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, 1(2), 51–71. https://doi.org/10.47061/jabsc.v1i2.971

Bachen, C., Hernández-Ramos, P. F., & Raphael, C. (2012). Simulating real lives: Promoting global empathy and interest in learning through simulation games. Simulation & Gaming, 43(4), 437–460. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878111432108

Benjet, C., Bromet, E., Karam, E. G., Kessler, R. C., McLaughlin, K. A., Ruscio, A. M., Shahly, V., Stein, D. J., Petukhova, M., Hill, E., Alonso, J., Atwoli, L., Bunting, B., Bruffaerts, R., Caldas-de-Almeida, J. M., de Girolamo, G., Florescu, S., Gureje, O., Huang, Y., Lepine, Kawakami, N., Kovess-Masfety, V., Medina-Mora, M. E., Piazza, M., Posada-Villa, J., Scott, K. M., Shalev, A., Slade, T., ten Have, M., Torres, Y., Viana, M. C., Zarkov, Z. & Koenen, K. C. (2015). The epidemiology of traumatic event exposure worldwide: Results from the World Mental Health Survey Consortium. Psychological Medicine, 46(2), 327–343. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291715001981

Bockelbrink, B., Priest, J., & David, L. (2022, April 24). Consent Decision-Making. A Practical Guide to Sociocracy 3.0. https://patterns.sociocracy30.org/consent-decision-making.html

de Coning, A. (2021). Seven theses on critical empathy: A methodological framework for ‘unsavory’ populations. Qualitative Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687941211019563

Cooke, B., & Kothari, U. (Eds.). (2001). Participation: The new tyranny? Zed Books.

Costanza-Chock, S. (2020). Design justice: Community-led practices to build the worlds we need. The MIT Press.

Creative Reaction Lab. (2018). Equity-centered community design field guide. Creative Reaction Lab. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e3b20447d777f2b32c1bc1c/t/5e667103feb2830f1b1b68d4/1583771908636/ECCD+FIELD+GUIDE+-+DOWNLOAD.pdf

Creative Reaction Lab (n.d.). How Design Thinking Protects White Supremacy. Creative Reaction Lab. https://crxlab.org/webinar-series

Cunningham, D. (2021). Awareness based systems change and racial justice. Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, 1(2), 9–13. https://doi.org/10.47061/jabsc.v1i2.1590

DiAngelo, R. (2018). White fragility: Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism. Beacon Press.

Drain, A., Shekar, A., & Grigg, N. (2021). Insights, solutions and empowerment: A framework for evaluating participatory design. CoDesign, 17(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/15710882.2018.1540641

Ellison, C. (2014). Indigenous knowledge and knowledge synthesis, translation and exchange (KSTE). National Collaborating Center for Aboriginal Health.

Escobar, A. (2018). Designs for the Pluriverse. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822371816

Farai, S. (2020, Jun. 28). The Impossibility and Irrelevance of Empathy [lecture]. Learners. https://joinlearners.com/talk/the-impossibility-and-irrelevance-of-empathy

Geppert, A. A., & Forlano, L. E. (2022). Design for equivalence: Agonism for collective emancipation in participatory design. In V. Vlachokyriakos, J. Yee, E. Grönvall, R. Noronha, A. Botero, C. Del Gaudio, Y. Akama, R. Clarke & J. Vines (Eds.), PDC '22: Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference 2022 - Volume 1 (pp. 158–168). https://doi.org/10.1145/3536169.3537790

Gilson, E. (2022) Sexual injustice and willful ignorance. In M. Gross & L. McGoey (Eds.), Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies (pp. 257–268). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003100607-29

Gonçalves, R. D., & Hayashi, A. (2021). A pattern language for social field shifts: cultivating embodied and perceptual capacities of social groups through aesthetics, and social field archetypes. Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, 1(1), 35–57. https://doi.org/10.47061/jabsc.v1i1.478

Gurung, L. (2020). Feminist standpoint theory: Conceptualization and utility. Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 14, 106–115. https://doi.org/10.3126/dsaj.v14i0.27357

Heylighen, A., & Dong, A. (2019). To empathise or not to empathise? Empathy and its limits in design. Design Studies, 65, 107–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2019.10.007

Hill, D. (2012). Dark matter and trojan horses: A strategic design vocabulary. Strelka.

Huybrechts, L., Teli, M., Zuljevic, M., & Bettega, M. (2020). Visions that change. Articulating the politics of participatory design. CoDesign, 16(1), 3–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/15710882.2020.1728907

IDEO.org. (2007). Human-centered design toolkit. IDEO. https://www.ideo.com/post/design-kit

IDEO.org. (2016). Extremes and mainstream. Design Kit. IDEO. https://www.designkit.org/methods/45.

Ibibio (Generations). Nam means make, create, or design in Ibibio.

Jackson, D., Kim, M., & Sievert, J. R. (2020). The rapid embrace of legal design and the use of co-design to avoid enshrining systemic bias. Design Issues, 36(3), 16–30. https://doi.org/10.1162/desi_a_00601

Jagannathan, V., & Seugling, S. (2018, March 7). A systems map of generational trauma in the rural South [Prezi presentation] Kumu. https://bailey.kumu.io/a-systems-map-of-generational-trauma-in-the-rural-south

King, M. L., Jr. (2018). Letter from Birmingham jail. Penguin Books.

Knutz, E., & Markussen, T. (2020). Politics of participation in design research: Learning from participatory art. Design Issues, 36(1), 59–76.

Kohtala, C., Hyysalo, S., & Whalen, J. (2020). A taxonomy of users’ active design engagement in the 21st century. Design Studies, 67, 27–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2019.11.008

Kolawole, E. (2016). Empathy. Design Kit. https://www.designkit.org/mindsets/4

Law, J. (2015). What's wrong with a one-world world? Distinktion: Scandinavian Journal of Social Theory, 16(1), 126–139. https://doi.org/10.1080/1600910x.2015.1020066

Leitão, R. (2020). Pluriversal design and desire-based design: Desire as the impulse for human flourishing. In R. Leitão, L. Noel, & L. Murphy (Eds.), Pivot 2020 Conference Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.21606/pluriversal.2020.011

Lencioni, P. M. (2012). The five dysfunctions of a team: Team assessment. John Wiley & Sons.

Macnaughton, J. (2009). The dangerous practice of empathy. The Lancet, 373(9679), 1940–1941. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61055-2

Matoba, K. (2021). Global social witnessing: An educational tool for awareness-based systems change in the era of global humanitarian and planetary crisis. Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, 1(1), 59–74. https://doi.org/10.47061/jabsc.v1i1.548

Mowris, L. G. (2020). Dismantling white supremacy culture: Developing shared language for the poison and the antidote. Lenspeace.

Nathanson, A. I. (2003). Rethinking empathy. In J. Bryant, D. R. Roskos-Ewoldsen & J. Cantor (Eds.), Communication and emotion (pp. 115–138). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410607584-11

Pohlhaus, G. (2012). Relational knowing and epistemic injustice: Toward a theory of willful hermeneutical ignorance. Hypatia, 27(4), 715–735. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2011.01222.x

Pomeroy, E., Herrmann, L., Jung, S., Laenens, E., Pastorini, L., & Ruiter, A. (2021). Exploring action research from a social field perspective. Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, 1(1), 105–117. https://doi.org/10.47061/jabsc.v1i1.676

Ritter, L., & Zamierowski, N. (2021). Systems sensing and systemic constellation for organizational transformation: Building collective capacity for navigating complexity. Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, 1(2), 101–115. https://doi.org/10.47061/jabsc.v1i2.1181

Roberts, M. (2017). Emerging leaders in science and society: 2016 annual report. American Association for the Advancement of Science. https://www.aaas.org/sites/default/files/ELISS-Annual-Report-2016-1.pdf

Rollins, P. (2006). How (not) to speak of God. Paraclete Press.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2014). SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884. https://ncsacw.samhsa.gov/userfiles/files/SAMHSA_Trauma.pdf.

Sanders, E. B. N., & Stappers, P. J. (2008). Co-creation and the new landscapes of design. Co-design, 4(1), 5–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/15710880701875068

Suaalii-Sauni, T., & Fulu-Aiolupotea, S. M. (2014). Decolonising Pacific research, building Pacific research communities and developing Pacific research tools: The case of the talanoa and the faafaletui in Samoa. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 55(3), 331–344. https://doi.org/10.1111/apv.12061

Sbardelini, R., Almeida, D., & Ramos, L. M. (2022). MAPA: Co-creating new narratives for the 21st century. Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, 2(1), 101–118. https://doi.org/10.47061/jabsc.v2i1.2727

Scharmer, C. O. (2009). Theory U: Learning from the future as it emerges. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Smith, L. T. (2021). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Stickdorn, M., Hormess, M. E., Lawrence, A., & Schneider, J. (2018). This is service design doing: Applying service design thinking in the real world. O'Reilly Media.

Taoka, Y., Kagohashi, K., & Mougenot, C. (2018). A cross-cultural study of co-design: The impact of power distance on group dynamics in Japan. CoDesign, 17(1), 22–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/15710882.2018.1546321

Udoewa, V., Mathew, N., Al-Hafidh, L., Bhog, L., Gupta, A., Patel, P., Prabhakar, B., Kaushik, S., Bauer, L., & Humar, V. (2016). Helping the next 4 billion go online part I: Design research for digital literacy education. International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering, Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship, 11(2), 18–37. https://doi.org/10.24908/ijsle.v11i2.6393

Udoewa, V., Mathew, N., Gupta, A., Bauer, L., Bhog, L., Prabhakar, B., Patel, P. & Al-Hafidh, L. (2017). Helping the next 4 billion go online part II: Prototyping solutions for digital literacy education. International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering, Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship, 12(1), 13–40. https://doi.org/10.24908/ijsle.v12i1.6665

Udoewa, V. (2018). Redesign of a service-learning social entrepreneurship program for high school students Part I. International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering, Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship, 13(2), 79–92. https://doi.org/10.24908/ijsle.v13i2.11492

Udoewa, V. (2022a). Hybrid expeditionary service learning model. International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering, Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship, 17(1), 20–36. https://doi.org/10.24908/ijsle.v17i1.14810

Udoewa, V. (2022b in press). An Introduction to radical participatory design: decolonizing participatory design processes. Design Science, 8.

Vlismas, T. (2020, June 24). What is empathy? Learn about 3 types of empathy [web log]. Altus Suite. https://takealtus.com/2020/06/empathy1/#:~:text=Renowned%20psychologists%20Daniel%20Goleman%20and,%3A%20Cognitive%2C%20Emotional%20and%20Compassionate

Watson, C. (2009). The ‘impossible vanity’: Uses and abuses of empathy in qualitative inquiry. Qualitative Research, 9(1), 105–117. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794108098033

Wilson, P. (2021). Sensing the Social Field through Action Research: What’s important, what’s valid. Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, 1(1), 119–124. https://doi.org/10.47061/jabsc.v1i1.679

Woodcock, A., Osmond, J., Tovey, M., & McDonagh, D. (2019). Empathy thresholds in transport design students. Design and Technology Education, 24(1), 65–78.

Wynter, S. (2003). Unsettling the coloniality of being/power/truth/freedom: Towards the human, after man, its overrepresentation—An argument. CR: The new centennial review, 3(3), 257–337. https://doi.org/10.1353/ncr.2004.0015

Wynter, S., & McKittrick, K. (2015). Unparalleled catastrophe for our species? Or, to give humanness a different future: Conversations. In K. McKittrick (Ed.), Sylvia Wynter: On being human as praxis (pp. 9–89). Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822375852-003

Published

2022-11-30

How to Cite

Udoewa, V. (2022). Radical Participatory Design: Awareness of Participation. Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, 2(2), 59–84. https://doi.org/10.47061/jasc.v2i2.3816

Issue

Section

Original Articles (Peer-Reviewed)