Technology in Participatory Design

What is Participatory Design?

Background

Participatory design is the hands-on involvement of the public in the planning and design process. This concept was started in the 1960's by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin and Jim Burns, a former senior editor of Progressive Architecture Magazine. Halprin and Burns organized a series of site-specific "Take Part" workshops which fostered interaction between community members and designers. During the workshops, community members were asked to express their concerns and desires for the site. Designers used this input to develop alternative design schemes which were presented to the workshop participants. Over the years"Take Part" projects have included school, church, park, and waterfront design (Woodbridge, 81).

Recent Examples

Minnesota Governor's Design Team (GDT)

The GDT is made up of a volunteer group of 15 landscape architects, architects, urban designers, tourism, and economic development officials. The purpose of the team is to visit small Minnesota towns that do not have resident design officials in order to facilitate one-on-one communication between town residents and designers. This program was based on the theory that "understanding a town comes from informal socializing" (Mack, 61). The design team will spend three days in town discussing design problems with the residents. A typical visit is as follows:

Thursday - Design team arrives in town and attends opening reception. The team stays with host families.
Friday - Presentation by community leaders and tour of town. A night meeting is held where between 8 and 10 community members meet with one designer to discuss town issues.
Saturday - Designers perform a day long charette to create alternative design solutions to the problems dissussed in earlier meetings. The solutions are presented to the town residents at a potluck dinner.

Flood Park

The landscape architecture firm of Moore Iaconfano Goltsman (MIG) of Berkeley, CA held a children's design workshop to generate ideas for Flood Park near San Francisco, CA. Children were given model materials and asked to create their ideal playground. The results of the workshop were put into the final plan (Woodbridge, 84.)

Current Technological Applications

GIS

A cooperative effort between the Urban Resources Initiative (URI), the Yale School of Forestry, and the Michigan State School of Forestry has resulted in the incorporation of GIS technology into the participatory design process. The goal of the URI was to graphically communicate the outcomes of various land use managment plans to community members. For example, a hydrological model was incorporated into a GIS to show the effects of littering and dumping on the effect of non-point source pollution. Another scenario showed the benefits of increased vegetative cover on water pollution. Planners presented these scenarios using GIS software on laptop computers brought to the community meetings (Grove, 14).

Some traditional problems arise when using GIS technology in participatory design. A long standing communication problem between designers/planners has been a lack of understanding of maps and site plans by the general public. The graphical symbols that are used by designers/planners are not easily understood by the general public and, therefore, they have a hard time visualizing land use plans. This same problem arises when using computerized mapping tools. (Oberdorfer, 65).

Future Use

Multimedia tools

Multimedia is the ability to link text, photographs, graphic art, and video. Multimedia is interactive because it lets the user control the way information is accessed. The application of multimedia in the participatory design process may eliminate some of the traditional communication problems mentioned earlier. Photographs when linked with text and graphics can present a clear, visual picture of abstract concepts. All the photograph, text, and graphic windows can be linked to a map and site plan. This ability to link various forms of communication provides for a clearer understanding of complex design concepts by the general public.

Future changes in technology may bring together television, computer, and consumer-electronics. The average desktop computer will be able to display multimedia applications quickly. Also, rapid changes in internet technology will also allow the convergence of television, computer, and consumer-electronics. (Johnson, )

Document author(s) : Jennifer M. Wetzel
HTML by : Jennifer M. Wetzel
Last modified: 29 Sept, 1995, Jennifer M. Wetzel

LA 437/465 Fall 1995: Background Research Reports

East St. Louis Action Research Project
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