Abstract

This is a recently produced summary of my research proposal.

ABSTRACT
This proposal outlines research that seeks to investigate and model emerging participatory design practices in design for urban regeneration of post-industrial cities and towns, and community development as led by local government in the UK. The research questions challenge the location of consultation exclusively in the domains of planning and visioning and evaluate the role of design practice therein.

It is my hypothesis that existing models of design and participation are too simplistic and idealistic, showing simple two way decontextualised power exchanges, and linear design processes. My professional experiences of participatory design lead me to think that a more appropriate model of participatory design would be a matrix of different drivers and limiting factors and this is what I plan to explore through my research.

Keywords
Design, participation, co-design, regeneration, community

INTRODUCTION
Urban regeneration has been a hugely influential movement in the UK that has seen major government spending targeted at the development of post-industrial towns and cities towards more sustainable communities and economic re-invigoration, addressing poverty, unemployment, and other social issues through redevelopment. Design and culture have played a major role in regeneration, and likewise regeneration has had a significant impact on the work of designers and architects over recent years.
Consultation and participation are increasingly being included as a statutory part of urban regeneration, including urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, graphic and systems design. This is being pushed forward by both political and economic drivers that make participation a requirement for developers and authorities investing in the design of new communities.

Consultation is an established practice within architecture and urban design. With roots outside of design, key models and methodologies for consultation (such as Arnstein’s Ladder [1] and Planning for Real [4]) come from the discipline of planning. Traditionally designers have been at the end-point of the consultation processes, recipients of edited interpretations of user needs (reports created by consultants and developers). By not having direct contact with those that they are designing for, designers have been excluded from the qualities of process not evident in results alone. When designers do become involved as participants in a project, notions of power and expertise shift and challenge the traditional role and status of the designer as a professional.
This research examines the need for re-framing the role of designers as participants, as, for example, recognised by Leadbeater, Cottam [2] and Thackara [5] on co-creation, and looks at case studies of a participatory design approach applied in UK urban regeneration and community development projects.

RESEARCH QUESTION
The research questions challenge the location of consultation exclusively in the domains of planning and visioning and evaluate the role of design practice therein. They look to establish the impact of the current participation agenda in the UK on design practice.
The research explores the potential models for this re-framing of participation. It evaluates current examples that exhibit elements of these models and works towards definitions of participation within design practice.

The questions are contextualised by design for urban regeneration and community development (predominantly design in the public sector and public realm), particularly in relation to current design opportunities in health, education, urban design and housing. It will also draw upon the established bodies of knowledge within related disciplines of HCI, Web 2.0, design for social action, community architecture, participatory health promotion, community art, and criticisms of participation in development studies.

METHOD

Design history
The foundations of the research project map through desk research and interviews the political, social and economic landscape within which these practices are occurring. Design with a distinctly social purpose has traditionally been a marginal practice, with predominantly commercial practice occupying the mainstream. As well as establishing what is happening in these practices, I also seek to determine to what extent participatory design can be seen as a mainstream or marginal practice.

Anthropology
A set of case studies will be observed and I will present the case studies at the consortium. I hope to be able to discuss some of the issues arising from the initial findings within the case study set. The case studies will be chosen to represent a profile of different types of emerging participatory practices. Criteria for selection will be developed from the findings of the design history part of the project. The themes of power and expertise will provide a framework within which the role of design and the designer will be analysed. I am currently investigating a phenomenological approach to the case study analysis.

Design management
Existing models of design practice and participation are being used to compare the observations of practice to existing notions of what constitutes design practice and participation. It is my hypothesis that existing models are too simplistic and idealistic, showing simple two way decontextualised power exchanges, and linear design processes.
My professional experiences of participatory design lead me to think that a more appropriate model of participatory design would be more like a matrix of different drivers and limiting factors, and it is the interaction of the different factors that shape participatory design that I want to explore and conceptualise through my research.

REFERENCES
1. Arnstein, S. R. A Ladder of Citizen Participation Journal of the American planning Association, 35, 4, (July 1969) 216-224
2. Cottam, H., and Leadbeater, C. RED PAPER 01 HEALTH: Co-creating Services. Design Council, 2004
3. Mayfield, W. and Hill, K. Interdisciplinary and Participatory Design in the Context of Healthy Schools: Interdisciplinary working in participation: a case study. Design Principles and Practices: an International Journal 1, 3 (2007), 7-11.
4. Neighborhood Initiatives Foundation, A Practical Handbook for ‘Planning for Real’ Consultation Exercise Neighborhood Initiatives Foundation, 1995
5. Thackara, J. In the bubble: designing in a complex world. The MIT Press, 2005