1.
Political Design, City
Spaces and the 'Sans
Receipts'
James Duggan and Janet Batsleer
(MMU, UK)
J.Duggan@mmu.ac.uk / @dugganjr
J.Batsleer@mmu.ac.uk

2.
Inequality

3.
The Design of the City

4.
The Design of the City

5.
Ranciere
• The sans papiers > the sans receipts
• Philosopher and his poor
• The police
• The ‘distribution of the sensible’
• Dissensus
• Emancipation

6.
Political Design
• Critique of existing design practice
• Focus on individuals and individual ‘needs’ or representations or
problems, rather than community-wide perspectives (Blyth and Kimbell
2011)
• Apolitical stance of much of design (DiSalvo 2010)
• Alignment with consumerist and unsustainable modes of living (Margolin
2002; Thorpe 2012)
• Political design/ adversarial design/ design activism/ critical
making
• However,
• Markussen’s (2011) political design largely engages with elites
• Design produce small-scale installations that are not co-designed by the
people in whose community they are located

7.
Political Design – Home Depot
Plant

8.
Natalie Jeremijenko’s – NoPark

9.
Rancierean emancipation via political
design
Criteria Engagement
Political, provocative and re-distribute the sensible in a
manner that is fairer and more democratic
The identified marginalized individuals and groups are
substantively included in the research and development
of the practical activity
How and to where is the sensible redistributed?

10.
Political Design/ ‘Design Fiction’
Scenario:
Augmented reality tax layer

11.
Image Google Streetview

12.
Image Google Streetview

13.
Choosing a Coffee Shop

14.
Ambient commons (McCullough 2013)

15.
Hobo Signs

16.
Augmented Reality
•

17.
Tax&Spend
• Create an AR layer that enables businesses to
record:
• Where they pay tax
• How much tax they pay per month, as a ratio of
total income
• Representation of what this pays for
• What contracts their staff are on – zero hour?
• Other CSR activities

18.
Tax&Spend
Total income/ tax = %
Employee contracts
?

19.
Rancierean Emancipation?
Criteria Engagement
Political,
provocative…
• Makes payment of tax visible
• However, the limitations of consumer activism
• Entangled issues: tax locally but the global supply
chains and ecological damage from smart phones…
Inclusive… • Process: No, but this is a scenario/ fiction
• Product: It uses AR, smart phones, web browsers
Re-distribution? • Emphasis on tax and contribution
• What about people who don’t contribute?
• Potential for well-financed reaction

20.
The reaction…

21.
• Beating the commons and complexity
• Research in architecture in design has shifted from behaviour
to sensibility (McCullough 2013)
• “architecture “arranges interpersonal distances in space, configures
everyday processes, represents organisations, and shapes everyday
habits within them, it also unobtrusively supports sensemaking”
• Democratic sensibilities/ sensemaking?
• Consciousness and reflection as integral…
• Changing the perceptual co-ordinates? Then what?
Parting thoughts