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Edward M. Orlowski Lawrence Technological University
$%675$&7This paper outlines the difference in research methodologies undertaken by architecture students in traditional design studio courses, as opposed to courses engaging in Public Interest Design (PID). An introduction is provided into the principles of PID, the primary characteristic of which is described by the recipients of the 2011 Latrobe Prize as work that µserves the public in some way, and that is not created for private interests alone¶. There has been increasing emphasis on this mode of practice in schools of architecture, and the paper outlines the curriculum of a research-intensive public interest design studio course at Lawrence Technological University, where students develop and test their own tools for community-based research and engagement.
In traditional studio contexts, students are frequently presented with projects lacking real ‘clients’, and only an abstract interpretation of potential users. This creates a level of disconnect to the project. Given that direct user input is essential to PID work, student research must move beyond typical abstract analysis of site, program, context, etc. By analysing internal case studies exploring the comparative impact of various tools utiliVed by students to gather information and facilitate dialogue with community partners, this paper explores the biases inherent in some of these methods. Reflection from both the instructor and some of the approximately 130 students who have participated in this course over a ten-year period reveals moments of both success and failure. This paper underscores the importance of inclusive processes, the ethical imperative behind such research methods, and the need to select appropriate research tools to reduce bias and maximiVe impact.
.(<:25'6 education, research, public interest design, engagement, community partners Charrette 5(2) 22 ISSN: 20546718 ,QWURGXFWLRQDQGPHWKRG for community understanding, engagement, and partnership. In addition, it will outline the Clear, objective, and useful research is curriculum of a research-intensive public important to any field of study. Within the interest design studio course at Lawrence realm of design education, the research phase Technological University, where students that precedes design conceptualiVDtion is develop and test their own tools for community crucial to the understanding of project context based research and engagement. Here, students (functional, spatial, and cultural), learn to recognize the biases inherent in establishment of project objectives, and various methodologies, identify strategies to creation of criteria against which to measure gather the broadest possible set of information, the success of design proposals. In traditional and facilitate participatory design actions with studio contexts, such research may take the self-identified community partners. Research form of internet searching, ‘data-scraping’, or at the heart of this article includes review of detached observation and analysis. While scholarly and professional publications, and designers gain useful information from these discussion of both external and internal case models, a fledgling runs the risk of biasing studies. Analysis of internal case studies their findings through selection of research explore the comparative impact of various filter, or through inability to interpret the tools utiliVed to gather information and impact of data on the end users of a design. In facilitate dialogue with community partners. such cases, the negative impacts of such These case studies will be subject to reflection research bias are minimiVed by the fact that the from both the instructor, and some of the student is not designing with a client in mind, approximately 130 students who have but rather testing self-generated hypotheses in participated in this course over a ten-year response to a theoretical challenge issued by period. their instructor. 3XEOLFLQWHUHVWGHVLJQ When educating students in the processes and principles of public interest design (PID), It is useful to provide a brief discussion of however, research takes on another layer of Public Interest Design (PID). PID significance and nuance. By foregrounding encompasses user-based, activist, and user engagement at multiple phases of the participatory design goals and techniques, design process, the PID studio context which Elizabeth Sanders and Pieter Stappers augments the need for design data with an trace to the 1970s: obligation to gather information that is more experiential, anecdotal and narrative in nature. The user-centred design approach (i.e. ‘user The value of such ‘imbedded information’ as subject’) has been primarily a US-driven within a community is significant, as it allows phenomenon. Increasingly, since the 1970s, the designer to identify problems people have been given more influence and collaboratively, and embark on a journey to room for initiative in roles where they provide unpack the social, political, historical, and expertise and participate in the informing, economic infrastructure that perpetuate a ideating, and conceptualiVing activities in the problem. Furthermore, participatory design early design phases. The participatory practices integrate the contributions of a approach (i.e. ‘user as partner’) has been led community partner in an iterative process that by Northern Europeans. The two approaches yields results that have greater impact due to are now beginning to influence one another. the ownership of process and result by the end users. Leading PID practitioners have In the United States, while a number of embraced a variety of innovative tools that practices have existed that focus on design draw out valuable community narratives work for the benefit of those outside of the unrecogniVed through cold data gathering traditional private client, it was not until the alone. But which tools are appropriate for this 2011 Latrobe Prize Research report produced task, and how does one overcome biases built by Roberta Feldman et al, that a collective into any given tool? definition of ‘public interest design’ was coined. They state: This paper will introduce the broad categories of such research models as the starting point Charrette 5(2) 23 ISSN: 20546718 Public interest design is a term that includes a program, as a section of Integrated Design general category of work that is known by Five, a course with both studio and lab many names including community design, components focused upon the relationship social design, humanitarian design, and pro between architecture and the public sphere. In bono. The primary characteristic is that the this course, students apply a model of work serves the public in some way, and that is advocacy design in the face of institutionaliVed not created for private interests alone. For the contexts of neglect and economic purpose of the survey, Public Interest Design disadvantage.6 is defined as putting creative abilities to use to improve quality of life in communities. The first project phase is called ‘Picture Problems’, and focuses upon situational PID, and other participatory approaches, awareness. Students are required to identify ‘reflect design as a social process’ notes relevant problems facing a community in a Rachael Luck, ‘illustrating that the sphere of specific area, clearly demonstrating its the design activity extends beyond the magnitude and impact, and support their designer. …Hence the boundary between findings with data and other credible ³designer´ and ³user´ becomes blurred’3 information. They are to identify and fully More so than traditional ‘private’ practice, PID define all ‘Constituencies’ (an individual, work must be inclusive of a broader set of community or organiVation) affected by this constituencies beyond just the paying client. It problem, and to consider the larger social, is therefore incumbent upon the PID environmental, economic ‘Ecosystem’ that practitioner to be more expansive in their perpetuates the problem. research methods, engage in broad outreach, and flatten the hierarchy of design decision- Using the results of the ‘Picture the Problem’ making. ‘Our research is about gaining assignment, each student is then required to people’s perspectives’ states the IDEO design develop a design solution that addresses the office, ‘not about offering advice, opinions, or needs that they have identified. Students corrections. Participants should always feel develop the scope, program, and objectives of their perspectives are valid, and not be swayed the project in collaboration with a community by any sense of deference that we are the partner, who in many cases acts either as a experts’4 ‘client’ or as a conduit to affected constituencies. As the community partner has Increasingly, schools of architecture are adding contacts with many stakeholders, they are able coursework that help prepare students for work to steer the students to those with valuable in the public sphere. Research from the input into needs and opportunities. In this Association of Collegiate Schools of phase, called ‘Picture Potential’, the critical Architecture found that in 2014, ‘over 200 step is the establishment of a working active organiVations’ existed in United States relationship with the community partner. In universities dedicated to PID/Community most cases, students make this connection Design education and engagement.5 This directly, but in some occurrences, the number has increased from seventy in 2000, instructor shares contacts he has within the and likely has continued to grow since. The community. Students and community partners balance of this paper will discuss case studies enter into a written agreement that outlines the and experience drawn from one such academic project description, the student’s primary program. responsibilities, and any deliverables the student shall complete by the end of the 7KH$FWLYLVW$UFKLWHFWXUHDQG'HVLJQ6WXGLR semester. Use of this agreement guarantees that the resultant student work is of benefit to The Activist Architecture and Design (AAD) the partner, and provides a level of closure to Studio was originally conceived in 2007 as an the semester, but allows for the student and elective section of a design course intended for agent to maintain a working relationship in the upper-division architecture, interior design, future. and urban design students at Lawrence Technological University (LTU), located in For the balance of the semester, students Southfield, Michigan. In the fall of 2015, this develop design responses in conjunction with studio was migrated into the lower-division their community partner. Students are required coursework in the Master of Architecture to present a visual and written account of their Charrette 5(2) 24 ISSN: 20546718 interactions with all stakeholders with whom informed by social, economic, and they are working, and maintain a record of this environmental issues – human issues – which dialogue throughout the design process. The cannot be easily known by analysing the needs dialogue and bonding between student and of a project or people from afar. community partner is paramount in this course. ‘Students learn to value communication with Even when attempting to gather qualitative non-architects as a critical architectural skill data, students often attempt to leverage online and see the knowledge of real people as a means of communication and surveying. LTU valuable part of the architectural process’ student Katie Piasecki utiliVed the Facebook notes Nadia Anderson.7 page for Friends of the I-275 Pathway to gather thoughts from trail users about 6WXGHQWUHVHDUFKDQGQHZWRROV conditions and possible improvements. While this did allow her an introduction to a All design projects require a degree of particular constituency, it skewed her research, be it about site, context, program, understanding. This limited resource did not climate, etc., to establish a solid foundation for adequately give her access to the needs of concept and proposal development. Within others (municipal staff, transportation officials, traditional studio contexts, students are local business owners) who would also have a frequently presented with projects lacking real stake in the maintenance and development of ‘clients’, and only an abstract interpretation of this amenity. This ‘selection bias’ required her potential users. This creates a level of to find other means, such as one-on-one disconnect to the project that feeds into the interviews, to inclusively gather information. stereotypical characteriVation of architect as aloof egoist, which must be overcome in PID Similar use of online survey platforms work. ‘Rather than cultivating an ethos of (Facebook, Survey Monkey, etc.) by students service and the skills to serve effectively’ prove to be limited in success for a number of notes Carey Clouse and Zachary Lamb, ‘many reasons, as outlined by Umut Toker: architecture programs simply reinforce a culture of design hero worship and egotism For example, relying on instruments that use that can undermine community relationships’8 digital media may not be a good idea in a community that is known to be relatively This disconnect is exacerbated by the independent of computers. Complex contemporary dependence upon the ,QWHUQHW instruments that work well with a community for student research. A 2010 Pew Research comprised predominantly of professionals Center study noted that nearly 100% of could fail with a younger audience. graduate and undergraduate students access the ,nternet, and it is the observance of this Toker adds: instructor that students rely almost exclusively on web-based research to initiate their work – In the early days of the internet, a common often to their detriment.9 This is not to say that criticism was that it would exclude younger web-based research has no value: many and older community members. As Internet students in the AAD studio are able, with access and use became widespread, however, guidance, to cultivate good understandings of the challenge has shifted to attracting attention demographics, economics, and history through and making the notice stand out among other use of curated sources of data from electronic advertising. governmental and institutional resources. The challenge for such students is to compliment Further compromising the use of online tools this quantitative ‘data scraping’ with to gather data embedded in communities is the qualitative information that can only be gained ‘digital divide’ found commonly in lower- from ‘on the ground’ experience. Lisa income neighbourhoods, and rural settings Abendroth and Bryan Bell note: where infrastructure for internet access is lacking. A 2015 study by the US Federal When initiating public interest design work, we Communications Commission noted that in the need first-hand understanding of the project’s city of Detroit alone, ‘100,000 households, defining social and cultural contexts. These representing 40 percent of the city's factors create a framework for conducting a population, had no internet connection of any practice based in civic engagement and kind, including mobile. Fifty-seven percent of Charrette 5(2) 25 ISSN: 20546718 households had no hardline connection, and 70 were personal and not affected by group percent of the city's school-age children had no pressures and influences’16 LTU student Julia internet access at home’13 In a context where Jovanovic effectively used focused interviews nearly half of impacted constituents have no in her work on the Ten Friends Diner internet access, sole reliance upon online renovation. feedback is obviously short sighted. This underscores the need for a combination of Ten Friends is a non-profit whose staff consists electronic outreach and printed media. of individuals who are returning to the workforce after treatment in the Canadian In an ideal situation, students and PID Mental Health system. In preparing to develop practitioners are able to develop research and design proposals, Jovanovic conducted outreach strategies that combine credible data interviews with Ten Friends staff and with parallel qualitative research, which Linda leadership, to understand their needs and Groat and David Wang state ‘involves gaining concerns about their workspace. To provide a an understanding of how people in real-world scientific basis for her investigations, she situations ³make sense´ of their environment researched case studies on evidence-based and themselves, and achieves this by means of design, looking for ideas to enhance the a variety of tactics’14 There are numerous physical and mental well-being of users. research methodV available. All of them are good, but one needs to be aware of biases, and Following a principle of IDEO, who believes recognize that some work in certain contexts ‘(y)ou can learn so much about a person’s better than others do. mindset, behaviour, and lifestyle by talking with them where they live or work’17 µ7HOOPH\RXUVWRU\¶ Jovanovic held design reviews at the Ten Friends workspace. This allowed her to Larger-scale research techniques and ‘data- observe the working conditions, and the scrapes’ are effective for gathering generaliVed staffers’ reactions to it. Particularly eye information on a place or demographic. opening was feedback from staff who rejected However, there is a danger in ‘over- certain design proposals if they were likely to generaliVation’ in the collection of such data, have a negative impact upon their particular and that resultant design proposals may not mental health condition.18 This constitutes address user needs adequately. Gene Rowe and what Groat and Wang call a ‘member check’: Lynn Frewer state: ‘checking the data and interpretations with the respondents and groups from whom the data Referenda, public opinion surveys, and focus was solicited, a process that (Egon) Guba groups do reasonably well on acceptance claims “goes to the heart of the credibility criteria but not on process criteria. From this, criterion”’19 we suggest that although these methods might gain a fair amount of credibility with the The inappropriateness of rejected ideas came public, the quality of the decisions that arise from a generaliVation of the user needs, and a from their implementation may not be high. reliance upon ‘expert’ knowledge gained through literature review without the frames of In such situations, particularly with a smaller specific user conditions. Willingness to re- user pool, one-on-one interviews prove more assess the knowledge hierarchy of designer, successful. When properly designed, one-on- researcher, and user is necessary for one interviews reveal a deeper level of detail participatory thinking, which Sanders and on user needs, albeit anecdotally. It is Stappers note: ‘flies in the face of the ³expert´ important to create consistency of questioning mindset that is so prevalent in business to achieve valid results, and to design today’20 They go on to note ‘In co-design, on questions that will not prompt pre-determined the other hand, the roles get mixed up: the responses. Luck describes the value of such person who will eventually be served through interviews: ‘This approach generated rich the design process is given the position of information about respondents’ personal “expert of his/her experience” (emphasis perceptions of their experience of buildings added), and plays a large role in knowledge and their suggestions for improvements to the development, idea generation and concept built environment. Interviewing people development’21 individually had the advantage that their ideas Charrette 5(2) 26 ISSN: 20546718 In co-generating and reviewing design their dreams and hopes for the reuse of proposals with the Ten Friends staff, Jovanovic abandoned structures in their neighbourhood. was able to guide a process that resulted in a By introducing a methodology that was workspace renovation where ‘positive changes inclusive to more introverted community were noticed in almost all of the thirty-plus members, Chang gathered a more employees of the diner, whose attitude and representative set of responses than could be general well-being significantly improved. gained by a selective survey. In addition, the Fewer employees missed work or reported public nature of the installation encouraged heightened anxiety or confusion’22 passers-by to add their own feedback, creating Furthermore, as Sandra Winter et al note, ‘This an informal conversation about place, equitable approach allows community character, and need. A drawback is that residents to learn and practice advocacy, unsupervised surveys of this public nature can leadership and technology-related skills—all fall victim to vandalism and prank answers. of which may increase self-efficacy and be transferable to other contexts’23 The skills and Working in her hometown of Clio, Michigan, confidence gained by the Ten Friends staff LTU student Brianna Campbell utiliVed a during the diner renovation inspired them to similar method of participatory surveying. take on the planning and implementation of a Campbell discovered that there was a 32% rate community garden opened the following year. of business vacancy in the downtown buildings, which was negatively affecting the µ'HPRFUDWLF¶6XUYH\V community. Hindering redevelopment, she observed, was: Where broader collection of qualitative data is required, methods such as broadly distributed the disconnection between the local Clio surveys and questionnaires can prove to be government, the business owners and the useful. Groat and Wang note that: community. There is little communication between them, little advertising from the (t)he great advantage of the survey businesses and to get signage for the business questionnaires is that they enable the owners is a big struggle with the ordinances. researcher to cover an extensive amount of There is no ‘hook’ to bring people into information – from demographic downtown to shop and support the local characteristic, to behavioural habits, to businesses. opinions or attitudes on a variety of topics – across a large number of people in a limited Campbell identified an opportunity for the amount of time. locals to guide redevelopment. Inspired by Seattle Storefronts, a project that gives local However, these tools also come with certain artists space to highlight their work in limitations. For example, the creator of the abandoned storefronts, she created a pop-up survey runs the risk of biasing the information event space in an available storefront owned collected through selection of a distribution by Clio resident Brad Anthony in conjunction list. While this is not a concern when the with the annual ‘Candlewalk’, a Christmas targeted audience is very concentrated (a festival in the downtown. Her rationale was church, school, or focus group), there often that this was one opportunity where ‘everyone exists a need to include feedback from a was in downtown at one time’27 She describes broader scope of impacted constituencies. the resultant engagement project:
To address this, community designers and I did an art installation in the front of Brad’s organiVers have developed public ways of building with a red ribbon chain wall across conducting surveys. These techniques utiliVe an the entire front window with a sign in the anonymous, democratic process of feedback window that said ‘What does Clio want for where the big voices of formal meetings do not Christmas?’ The people would fill out a slip dominate. A prime example is Candy Chang’s that says ‘____ would bring me to downtown ‘I Wish this Was’ project in New Orleans, Clio’, or ‘I would like to see ____ in Louisiana. RecogniVing ‘the limited dynamics downtown’. Then they would take the strip and of community meetings where the loudest hook it on the ribbon wall. People would be people ruled’,25 Chang utiliVed a set of vinyl able to interact with the installation from stickers upon which residents could express inside and people would be able to see the Charrette 5(2) 27 ISSN: 20546718 team creates an ‘event space’ that democratiVes design participation. Toker refers to this as a ‘planned street presence’, and notes that it ‘works best when it is organiVed in conjunction with a workshop or a meeting in the larger scheme of a community design project’30
A successful example is the Waterfront on Wheels, created to facilitate user participation in the redevelopment of the Lower East Side waterfront In New York. Dylan House of the Figure 1:‘What Does Clio want for Hester Street Collaborative describes the Christmas?’ installation (Brianna Campbell) project: responses getting hooked on the chain from It’s a mobile, physical model of the site hooked outside. The event happened on Friday Dec. to a bike trailer that we use as an interactive 4th. There was a great turnout and I got a total planning tool. We bike the model around the of 129 responses; I was expecting 50. neighboXrhood to meet people where they are, whether that’s a school or a community Campbell simplified the questions asked to meeting or in the park. We can engage young ones addressing place-specific preferences, people with a model-making activity that rather than complex planning issues. She envisions alternative futures for the park or we avoided a common drawback to surveys, can use it in a more formal workshop setting where, as Rowe and Frewer note, ‘participants with adults in order to demystify the planning in referenda, public opinion surveys, and focus process. groups have no structured access to resources to enable them to make good decisions, and as Planned street presences like the Waterfront on such their output may reflect biases and Wheels help address certain biases built into misunderstandings that have no opportunity design processes. First, the hands-on for resolution’29 She submitted the resultant engagement of model making removes the use information, compiled in a report, to the Clio of private language and jargon typically heard Downtown Development Authority, to provide in schools and office of design. Secondly, the public input to future city development. element of ‘play’ involved is particularly helpful in engaging youth and children, 7DFWLOHµSOD\¶WRROV demographics that Mark Matel notes, ‘normally don’t attend community meetings’32 When attempting to engage a community in In fact, Wendy Sarkissian and Dianna Hurford the process of co-design, it is often beneficial lament that in their experience ‘government to bring the opportunity for design workshops engagement manuals were ignoring children into the public realm, rather than in a and young people as groups to involve in controlled office or meeting room context. participatory processes related to planning and There are multiple benefits to such an design and probably other aspects of civic approach. First, it allows members of the life’33 community the comfort of participation in their own space. In addition, it allows the designer LTU students Brittany Murray and McKenna the opportunity to observe not just the context, Steltzner utiliVed a similar technique in their but (as referenced in the discussion of the Ten work with the Crim Fitness Foundation and Friends Diner), the community member’s FoodCorps in Flint, Michigan. These disposition toward that context. organiVations work with Flint Community Schools, focusing on garden education, This type of fieldwork often is physically community engagement, afterschool programs, manifested in the creation and installation of a nutrition education, health care services, sports booth, table, kiosk, or mobile station that & physical activity, and literacy. Murray and allows for the collection and distribution of Steltzner led the design of expanded learning information, or even –in some cases ± the co- gardens / classroom spaces at Doyle/ Ryder creation of design ideas. In essence, the design and Neithercut Elementary Schools. They note: Charrette 5(2) 28 ISSN: 20546718 One of the most important aspects of the %ULFRODJH proposed garden spaces was the incorporation of children and their ideas. It was extremely Individual tools for research and outreach offer important to the Crim and to the FoodCorps distinct advantages and drawbacks, and members that the children take ownership of community designers and design students often the space. Everyone agreed that the students find that selection bias (as noted in earlier case are going to be the main users of the garden; studies) is often one of the obstacles to their input is the key to a functional garden overcome. Eric Benson notes: design. We created a workshop to begin designing the gardens with the students. We Talking with one community member reveals attended a 5th grade class at Doyle/Ryder, a what he or she desires, but is not necessarily Flint Community School that needed garden representative of everyone’s thoughts. In any expansion. Students were excited to have a good study, getting a representative sample is new garden since their garden had not been vital. Using only one or two sources of planted in two years. To express their ideas, feedback, although important on their own, students were divided into three groups to will create assumptions, which will skew build a model of their dream garden. Ideas project successes. For the social designer, such as secret areas, roses, a pond, daisies, asking many people and listening with and a water catchment system were a few of empathy is the key to understanding. the many ideas we were able to gather from the children. Therefore, it is often necessary to apply several tools to achieve adequate representation. This In conducting the workshop with children, application of multiple tools is a bricolage, or Murray and Steltzner needed to step out of the ‘a pieced-together, close-knit set of practices biases that inform repeated work experience that provide solutions to a problem in a with peers and professors. They observed that concrete situation’37 In addressing the the children were eager to engage with the daunting task of collecting meaningful model-making process, and contributed ideas information from the scattered and diverse without the self-consciousness adults may have constituencies in Detroit, Michigan, the team in the presence of trained designers. However, behind the Detroit Works Project Long Term working with children – rather than adults – Planning (DWPLTP) employed such a also necessitated more guidance from the bricolage. Ceara O’Leary states: designers to maintain focus. Murray notes that she ‘came away feeling that we would have Tactics varied from music videos and an online been able to get more direction and gaming platform, which successfully engaged imaginative design ideas if we had directed the a younger audience, to a road show that discussion and design process rather than exhibited the plan at community centrHs and a allowing the students a free for all’35 team that attended existing neighboXrhood meetings to share information about DWPLTP. Another engagement strategy was a mobile information station, the Roaming Table, designed to be a hub for DWPLTP knowledge sharing. The Roaming Table was often deployed at neighboXrhood events, bus stops, grocery stores, and many other sites to create a convenient way for residents to engage with the DWPLTP process.
This combination of engagement techniques proved highly successful in reaching a high number of Detroiters. The online gaming Figure 2: Doyle / Ryder Elementary School platform (Community PlanIt / Detroit 24/7) workshop (Brittany Murray and McKenna alone engaged 1,033 participants, with 74% Steltzner) below the age of 35, and with some of the most active ‘players’ over the age of 50. Overall, Community PlanIt garnered from contributors ‘over 8400 comments about their experience Charrette 5(2) 29 ISSN: 20546718 Figure 3: Mapping session with ‘The Avenue’ model in foreground (Daniel Adamczyk and Jillian McFadden) with the city as it is now and where they think and through conversations and multiple it should go in the future’39 iterations, develop a proposal that reveals the common ground between them. The number of constituencies, and sensitive politics encountered by LTU students Daniel Adamczyk and McFadden recognized what Adamczyk and Jillian McFadden required a Mindy Fullilove has advanced, that ‘citizens bricolage approach to information gathering in must start with a common understanding of the their classwork. They identified a number of problems in order to move to the correct groups within Flint, Michigan, that had interest solution’42 in a significant six-block site straddling Flint’s University Avenue, including The Carriage Their first interactive activities were meetings Town Historic Neighborhood Association, and ‘mapping sessions’ with Flint city Flint Public Art Project, Kettering University, planners and the Carriage Town The University Avenue Corridor Coalition, as neighboXrhood association. Using aerial maps well as the local residents living within the and street photos, they were able to collect proposed site. They also discovered through perspectives on existing conditions and their initial research that these groups had proposals for new development. However, it differing goals for this part of the city, and that became apparent that these organiVed meetings relationships between them were not always did not accommodate all parties with a stake in cooperative. Bill Lennertz and Aarin the project site. Barry Checkoway notes that Lutzenhiser stress, ‘proper stakeholder analysis such meetings and workshops ‘are commonly will uncover a project’s potential blockers and held during weekday working hours in identify the issues that matter to each group as locations that are ‘formidable’ to the public well. …It is therefore critical to locate and (e.g. government buildings), which may engage influential individuals in the disadvantage low-income and minority citizens community – especially those not immediately and have a negative impact on the apparent’40 Adamczyk and McFadden sought representativeness of those attending .43 success by: Adamczyk and McFadden needed a method to include local residents more equitably into the allowing each member of the community to process. have equal weight throughout the planning process. Our focus was to take on the role of Their response was to create ‘The Avenue’: a mediator between the multiple constituencies, model/board game that was ‘given to Charrette 5(2) 30 ISSN: 20546718 different members of the community to knowledge – need to be heard. Roberta programmatically lay out city blocks through a Feldman reflects: simple massing exercise. It was designed as a tool for communication between community The participatory design methods we use are organiVations who are no longer on speaking rooted in the conviction that both our clients terms or have never met before’44 Users place and we – as architects, planners, graphic coloXr-keyed blocks (representing different designers, and other design professionals – programmatic functions) on the model to have the necessary expertise to guide effective create a proposal for land use in the project and socially just design decisions. …Our site. Creation of a communication tool is in clients have the most and best knowledge keeping with the thoughts of Nishat Awan et about their own situations – the problems with al, who note, ‘Some of the most inventive their current circumstances, and their future examples of spatial agency focus on the design needs and desires. We have knowledge about of these tools, seeing them as the prime means alternatives design solutions, many of which to unlock the potential of a given situation’.45 may be unfamiliar to our client.
Once a participant created a physical document One must view PID as a partnership of varied of their proposal, they were encouraged to post talents, not a ‘top down’ process. This a photograph on an established Facebook page, ‘partnership’ indoctrinates students in the art allowing others to comment and engage in of listening, as well as the language of dialogue about alternatives. ‘The end result’ inclusion. Furthermore, it is crucial that the Adamczyk and McFadden write, ‘was a few students develop ‘cultural competency’: the areas of incremental development that all ability to integrate the different perspectives organiVations should be able to agree on. and experiences of their community partner These proposed areas can help inform what (and others) in an inclusive manner. should be developed around them, in the more unrefined areas of the site’46 Second, there is a strong ethical imperative not only behind the value of the finished work, but Adamczyk and McFadden assembled and the research process itself. IDEO requires that compared the information gathered through its staffers realiVe that: ‘real people are behind their bricolage methodology. They produced a the data we’re collecting; we acknowledge set of diagrams outlining areas of planning their participation in appropriate ways’49 consensus that could act as a base of continued Further: development. They submitted their results to a subsequent section of the course, for continued Research should never feel covert or work with the Flint constituencies. The manipulative. We want to help participants willingness to include multiple research and make informed choices about what they share engagement tools underscored the students’ with us. We must tell them as early as possible acceptance that as Luck notes ‘(t)he ±Wo the best of our knowledge±what the democratic principle underpinning research is for, and how their information will participatory design is demonstrated through be used, shared, and protected by IDEO. the involvement of different users during design discussions and through their potential One LTU student learned this lesson the hard equal contribution to the design outcomes’47 way by unthinkingly sharing critical comments by a non-profit community partner with that &RQFOXVLRQV partner’s direct supervisor, creating tension in the group, and compromising the partner’s Observing the students’ interactions, successes confidence in the process. As a result, students and failures with certain research and outreach are now required to vet any information and tools leads to a number of conclusions. First, it quotes with their community partner prior to is imperative that in the PID realm, all inclusion in their project submittals. This processes, from research to design, be as prevents misrepresentation or inappropriate inclusive as possible. It is particularly sharing of potentially controversial important that students realiVe that public information given to them ‘off the record’. By design interventions affect a variety of presenting the partner’s voice in an unfiltered constituencies, and their voices – and manner, students recognize the ethos of ‘nothing about us, without us’. Charrette 5(2) 31 ISSN: 20546718 Furthermore, in the spirit of the scientific building and we're all very excited about that method, researchers must be prepared to leave around here’51 presuppositions aside, and accept collected data that does not support their external Lastly, students who aspire to work in the impressions or biases. Selective acceptance of field of PID need guidance to recogniVe the data and feedback leads to inappropriate appropriate selection of tools and processes to design responses. Such cases undermine the reduce bias and maximiVe impact for those participatory design process, and can lead to who will most benefit. In the AAD studio, it projects which fail due to a lack of a ‘sense of was found that requiring students to engage in ownership’ by the community partner. research into such tools (in the form of precedent analysis guided by the instructor) To build this partner ownership, students in greatly improves their acumen in recogniVing this class must demonstrate that they are the strengths and weaknesses of different bringing value to the project. Community modes of engagement. By sharing this partners are engaged in their own mission, and research, students are best able to identify are not financially compensated for their time which tools (or combination thereof) will yield and participation. Therefore, it is up to the the most inclusive data and feedback. students (and instructor) to ensure that the Furthermore, the class benefits from an collected research and resulting project serves engaged network of alumni, who are eager to the partner’s needs first and foremost. It is the share their insight and critique proposed community partner who has final say in research methods based upon their own defining the scope of the project, and the final experiences working with these tools. deliverables to be prepared by the student that will be of maximum benefit to the partner’s These tools are not exclusive to the practice of mission. These range from summary reports, PID, but will serve future practitioners well physical objects, or information and renderings regardless of their career path. In the words of the partner can use to pursue foundation and Sergio Palleroni: public financial support to proceed with the project. Success in demonstrating value is most important, we can also teach them to measured in comments like those from become citizens, to become collaborators, so Shamayim Shu, founder of the neighbourhood that when they leave academia they have development group Avalon Village in established the capacity to pool resources and Highland Park, Michigan. In speaking of her have come to understand that cooperation can experience working with students Lucas Allen be a powerful tool toward making effective and Nasser Ali, she states: ‘The pleasure was change. Through this collaborative exchange, definitely mine and they made a wonderful they have created new models for their own impact on Avalon Village. Their project will discipline. help us to move forward in our next phase of
Charrette 5(2) 32 ISSN: 20546718 5HIHUHQFHV 10 Lisa M. Abendroth and Bryan Bell, 1 Elizabeth B.-N. Sanders & Pieter Jan ‘Starting a Project: Public Participation and the Stappers, ‘Co-creation and the New Feedback Loop’, Public Interest Design Landscapes of Design’, CoDesign: Practice Guidebook, ed. By Abendroth and International Journal of CoCreation in Design Bell, (New York: Taylor & Francis/ and the Arts, 4:1, (2008), 5-18 Routledge, 2016), pp. 105–8, (p.105).
4 IDEO, The Little Book of Design Research 14 Linda Groat and David Wang, Architectural Ethics, (Palo Alto: IDEO, 2015), p.32. Research Methods, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2002), p. 179. 5 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture / American Institute of Architects 15 Gene Rowe & Lynn J. Frewer, ‘Public Housing Knowledge Community, Community Participation Methods: A Framework for Design Directory, (Association of Collegiate Evaluation’, Science, Technology, & Human Schools of Architecture, 2014), p. 4. Values, 25:1, (New York: Sage Publications, 2000), 3–29,
24 Groat and Wang, p. 219. 38 Ceara O’Leary and Dan Pitera, ‘Moving forward Together: Engagement in Community 25 ‘I Wish this Was’, in Candy Chang Official Design and Development’, in Abendroth and Website,
27 Campbell, p. 1. 40 Bill Lennertz and Aarin Lutzenhiser, The Charette Handbook, (Chicago: American 28,ELG pp. 2 -3. Planning Association, 2006), pp. 45–46.
29 Rowe and Frewer, p. 21. 41 Daniel Adamczyk and Jillian McFadden, Student Reflective Paper, (unpublished student 30 Toker, p. 121. work, Lawrence Technological University, December 2016), p. 1. 31 Daniel Rojo, ‘Paths to Pier 42’, The Architectural League of New York’s Urban 42 Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD, Urban Omnibus, Alchemy: Restoring Joy in America’s Sorted-
33 Wendy Sarkissian and Dianna Hurford, 44 Daniel Adamczyk and Jillian McFadden, Creative Community Planning: Transformative Final Project Submittal, (unpublished student Engagement Methods for Working at the Edge, work, Lawrence Technological University, (London: Earthscan, 2010), pp. 160-61. December 2016), p. 29.
34 Brittany Murray and McKenna Steltzner, 45 Nishat Awan, Tatjana Schneider, and Student Reflective Paper, (unpublished student Jeremy Till. Spatial Agency: Other Ways of work, Lawrence Technological University, Doing Architecture, (New York: Routledge, December 2016), p. 2. 2011), p. 45.
35 Brittany Murray, email to author, August 46 Adamczyk and McFadden, Reflective 2017. Paper, p. 2.
47 Luck, p. 524. Charrette 5(2) 34 ISSN: 20546718 48 Roberta M. Feldman, ‘Activist Practice: The Risky Business of Democratic Design’, in Good Deeds, Good Design: Community Service through Architecture, ed. by Bryan Bell, (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2004), pp. 109-14, (p. 112).
49 IDEO, The Little Book of Design Research Ethics, p. 36.
50 Ibid, p. 24.
51 Shu, Shamayim, email to author, May 2018.
52 Sergio Palleroni, ‘Building Sustainable Communities and Building Citizens’, in Expanding Architecture: Design as Activism, ed. by Bryan Bell and Katie Wakeford, (New York: Metropolis Books, 2008), pp 274-79, (p. 275).
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