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Advocating for a More Democratic Process A critical analysis of codesign plenary sessions within a public project development

Lalonde, Simon
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1598036287893528

Abstract Details

2020, Master of Fine Arts, Ohio State University, Design.
In the public sector context, the use of participatory design methods such as codesign approaches have gained momentum since the beginning of the 21st century (Donetto et al., 2015; Steen et al., 2011). Many decision-makers see codesign as an opportunity to make the development of public services and policies more democratic, as this approach involves citizens in the design process. Codesign activities enable ordinary citizens to communicate their complex realities, thereby allowing the development of solutions that are better adapted to their needs (Blomkamp, 2018). However, the epistemic value provided by participants still needs to be effectively communicated to the designers and project sponsors to ensure a democratic codesign process (Aitamurto & Chen, 2017). In codesign activities, the synthesis and translation of the concepts that are proposed during plenary and wrap-up sessions can be problematic. For instance, ideas generated by a codesign team may be presented by a single team representative, who is often chosen for being the individual most comfortable speaking for the group. While this participant’s account of the group’s codesign outcomes is valid, it remains a single perspective; a single team representative may not reasonably represent the vision of all members of the group. Therefore, some ideas and nuances may inevitably be lost. Importantly, the ideas that are left out often come from more vulnerable participants, including minorities and those who have difficulty expressing their ideas in a conventional way (Richard Ferroudji, 2011; Proulx & Gauthier, 2014). To understand and address the problems surrounding this residual data, this research project presents and analyses the outcomes from a plenary session of a codesign activity organized at a public library in Montreal North, a disadvantaged borough of Montreal. This process examines the ideas and nuances presented by different participants through the presentations during the plenary sessions. By comparing the unique perspective of each participant, the issues and key moments of the plenary sessions can be identified. Subsequently, the hypothesized causes of why residual data are being created during the moments of synthesis are outlined and then discussed. Finally, this research presents speculative solutions (Dunne & Raby, 2013) for limiting the omission of epistemic data generated by vulnerable populations during the plenary sessions of codesign activities within a public project development.
Sébastien Proulx, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Proulx Gauthier, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Jeffrey Haase, M.Arch (Committee Member)
Jason Reece, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
183 p.
Design
codesign; plenary session; public sector; public library; advocacy; residual data; democratic value; epistemic value

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Lalonde, S. (2020). Advocating for a More Democratic Process A critical analysis of codesign plenary sessions within a public project development [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1598036287893528

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Lalonde, Simon. Advocating for a More Democratic Process A critical analysis of codesign plenary sessions within a public project development. 2020. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1598036287893528.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Lalonde, Simon. "Advocating for a More Democratic Process A critical analysis of codesign plenary sessions within a public project development." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1598036287893528

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1598036287893528
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.