A talk on adapting community-based design & engagement during lockdown/stay-at-home conditions

1. “Social Design” in
Times of the Coronavirus
A spontaneous response to the challenges and opportunities
thrown up by the lockdown

2. What was that again?
• By ‘Social Design’, I mean a design effort with the following
attributes:
• Benefiting a Specific Community to deal with a Specific Issue
• Outcome Focus innovation rather than Product/Solution Focus
• Considering Short, Medium and Long-term scenarios & perspectives
• Built on People’s Expertise, Preferences and Leadership/Inclusion
• Multidisciplinary and Systemic lens
• Exploratory & Adaptive rather than Predetermined/Fixed roadmap
• Accommodating Diverse (and Contradicting) views & opinions
• Non-Mainstream approaches to Viability, Scalability, Replicability
• Creating/strengthening Social/Community Capital
• Impacting Power Distribution in favour of/Empowering the community
• Strong Moral/Ethical filters & guidelines (means over ends)

3. Extracts: Participatory Design and
Construction of Community Gardens
“Participatory Design and Self-building in Shared Urban Open Spaces : Community
Gardens and Casitas in New York City” — Carolin Mees, Springer 2017 [Chapter 8]
• Unlike traditional parks, community gardens are community managed
• Gardens that are put in place in a top-down manner and maintained by
staff personnel will fail in the long run since the resident group using the
space is not participating in the decision-making process and therefore does
not assume ownership of the spaces
• The participatory design and sense of ownership of the community garden
encourages the participating residents to cooperate further and shape their
urban spatial environment
• This can be seen, for example, in the 1970s in New York City, when residents
joined together to not only create community gardens but also to renovate
their apartment buildings

4. A progressive & endless process
• The design of community gardens is a participatory design
process that progresses over time
• In some cases, there is a general design objective that is agreed
upon by the group, such as to create a self-built structure as a
shelter
• In other cases, the gardeners develop their shared urban garden
“unplanned”, through small individual initiatives that have to be
negotiated in their creative expression in the shared space, and
that consequentially sometimes have to be modified when the
majority of the gardeners objects

5. Appropriated by the residents mix
• Community gardeners in the South Bronx often design and build a
variety of garden elements and self-built structures, such as raised
beds, a casita, a chicken coop, a pig roaster and a stage
• The building process is a slow, step-by-step and “growing” one, and
composed of elements that are determined by the availability of
time, materials, financial means and participants
• It is a process that creates community among the gardeners and also
shows the commitment of the participants to the project
• Therefore, a community garden as a shared public open space is
flexible in its design and can continuously be appropriated by
resident groups of various cultural backgrounds, interests and
preferences, as well as in response to altering social and economic
needs

6. Professional involvement can be a
deterrent for participation & ownership
• Participative design of open spaces [with the involvement of]
landscape architects, architects and planners was not only applied for
community gardens, but has also been used as a tool for the design of
playgrounds
• However, the top-down involvement of professional designers can stop
the process of community-building and participatory decision-
making regarding the design, use and maintenance of the shared
open space, thereby making the garden dependent in the long run on
outside assistance
• In addition, designers often lack training in participatory-design
processes and community involvement in the construction of structures
since this is not part of the mandatory curriculum of most design
schools

8. Management can become an ‘unwanted
baby’ – with the City reluctant to chip in
• There is no end to the participatory building process; instead, when
the basic installation of design elements is in place, it transitions into
an ongoing maintenance process
• This maintenance [management] process also needs to be instigated
by the gardening group
• There is only little support – but conversely, only little interference –
by the City Council in regard to the upkeep and repair of shared open
spaces that have not been built by the municipal agencies
• Illegal uses include entrepreneurial ventures, which indicates
individual profit making with revenue not returned as an investment
into the community garden, and living quarters and shelter for the
homeless

9. The provocation for me
• This responds to Neeta Verma’s post asking for ideas/
suggestions on how one might navigate a ‘Social Design’ course
during Lockdown/ Shelter-in-Place
• Of course, it goes without saying that participants must
scrupulously adhere to public health guidelines at any time
and protect themselves as well as others from possible
infection risk
• Having said that, here are some thoughts based on my prior
teaching & (community-based) practice experience that might
inspire (new) ways going forward…

10. Map out your process in detail
• As community partners are unlikely to
have access to computers, broadband,
etc., group video conferencing &
online collaboration is not really an
option
• Do a rapid survey of device &
connectivity access?
• (Also, keep in mind they have a
hundred other things to do?)
• This means student designers must
chart out their (bespoke) design
process in great detail by
themselves, and get input/ feedback
from peers, faculty and third-party
experts
• Hopefully, this can be accomplished
online?

11. “Theory of Change” framework
• I found the Theory of
Change model most
helpful in helping
students think through
and articulate this, as well
as to obtain peer &
faculty feedback:
https://diytoolkit.org/tool
s/theory-of-change/
• Once they have done this
in as much detail and
consideration as possible,
are they now ready to
“roll out” their
intervention/s into the
community?

12. Translate your intervention/s into
(autonomous) interactive artefacts
• This is where each step of their
intervention process needs to be
translated into an interactive
artefact (like a worksheet or
survey form/ voting ballot or
storyboard or board game, etc.)
for community response/action
• The key thing is these must be
built to be SANITIZED, and the
users must be also enabled to
interact with them whilst being
fully protected against contact-
infection!
• Laminated paper or board,
disposable plastic hand-gloves,
Post-its, etc. come to the mind

13. Ensure full visibility & transparency
at all times
• Perhaps a COMMUNITY
PROJECT BOARD (basically a
non-digital project management
chart) can be installed where
news, updates, instructions, even
messages, etc. can be posted
and accessed/exchanged in a
sanitized manner?
• Maybe a daily ‘timetable’ can be
set up around this for designer
to update the board, and
community members to post/
share their responses/results?

14. Find/appoint a collaborator
• All said and done, it would be
really helpful for there to be a
designated liaison/
facilitator from the
community who everyone
knows (and likes!) for the
student designer/s to work
with
• I’m guessing this would be so
in any case?

15. Invest in media tech if possible
• If feasible, a community
smartphone or laptop/
media device can be
funded+deployed as well – to
allow for real-time multimedia
interaction between the
various stakeholders?
• In some ways this situation reminds me
of community-based work in India,
where basic infrastructure didn’t exist
(still doesn't in vast tracts of the
country) and we can only rely on
personal interaction and relationships!

16. Rapid responses to CoVID from designers
in Bengaluru

17. Happy to have your comments/respond to questions/brainstorm…
Feel free to get/be in touch:
lodaya@gmail.com