Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs A design analysis of parliamentary debate Thesis How to cite: Umney, Darren (2016). A design analysis of parliamentary debate. PhD thesis The Open University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 2016 Darren Umney https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Version: Version of Record Link(s) to article on publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21954/ou.ro.0000bbb5 Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk A design analysis of parliamentary debate Darren Umney A thesis in Design Studies submitted to the Open University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, May 2016 Abstract Drawing on descriptions and interpretations of the design process from the design studies literature, this thesis explores and develops a method of interpreting and analysing data about large public projects whose contexts lie outside conventional design studies. The thesis undertakes a design analysis of parliamentary debate and draws data from the documentary records of two infrastructure projects. The first is High Speed Two (HS2), the London to Birmingham rail link proposed by the UK Government in 2010. Parliamentary bills were passing through both houses of Parliament and the relevant select committees, as this research was under way. The second, providing an historical counterpoint, is the first London to Birmingham Railway, planned and built between 1830-38. Through a series of studies of transcripts of debates, committee proceedings and records of meetings, the application of design analysis as a method is refined and reviewed. This analysis yields insight and understanding of the parliamentary processes, including debates and committee proceedings involved in planning and designing major public infrastructure, as well as making a contribution to the field of design studies and its methods. The implications this work has for design research are: • As a contribution to the ongoing debate about the scope and relevance of design studies as a discipline; • As a recognition of the value of the parliamentary record as a dataset, providing detailed records of design processes for complex projects with large budgets that affect large numbers of users; • By drawing on this dataset and recognising the context in which it is created, the importance of such context in the study of design is underlined; • The notion of an assemblage is developed as a mechanism for accommodating, accounting for, and visually representing the actors drawn from the contexts identified. Primary data sources Thatched House A printed record of the Meeting of Peers, Members of the House of Commons and other persons, held at the Thatched House Tavern on Friday, the 13th July, 1832 is: at Senate House Library in the Goldsmiths’-Kress Library of Economic Literature at classmark [G.L.] I1.833; as a google book, https://goo.gl/VgNdqO; as a line numbered version, https://goo.gl/bUhVWp HS2 Preparation Bill Second Reading The Hansard text version of the Second Reading of the High Speed Rail (Preparation) Bill is available online at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm130626/debtext/130626- 0002.htm#13062665000001. The line numbered version is online at https://goo.gl/OkuMYN HS2 Preparation Bill Committee The proceedings of the High Speed Rail (Preparation) Bill Committee are available online at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmpublic/highspeedrail/130711/am/130711s01. htm. The line numbered version is online at: https://goo.gl/4NvtKY Sources of other materials referred to in the text will be found in the relevant footnotes. Additional online material Data files The first two of the data files linked below support the methodology chapters of the thesis and provide full lists of the newspaper and Hansard records that have been reviewed in the course of this study. The third file shows the categorised lists of actors drawn from three HS2 debates. The actors from the first of these debates formed the starting point for the work undertaken in Chapters 7 and 8. All files are Microsoft Excel documents. • LBR Newspaper sources: https://goo.gl/4WSbT7 • HSR Hansard sources: https://goo.gl/P6VWSr • Implicated actors: https://goo.gl/kwG9pW Visual materials A number of additional visual materials have been created and used in the production of this thesis. This material does not form a part of the thesis but provides the reader with additional context and detail to that presented in Chapters 4 and 8 of this thesis. Both are links to Prezi presentations. • Visualising the LBR newspaper discourse: http://goo.gl/fGO4ZY • Implicated actor assemblages: http://goo.gl/TPBUjb Outputs from this research Debate as design, presented at the Open Space Praxis seminar series, Open University, November 2013 Political debate as design process: a frame analysis, Proceedings of the Design Research Society Conference, Umeå, June 2014 Stephenson’s Thin Red Line, presented at PhD by Design conference, Goldsmiths College, London, November 2014 A visual analysis of documentary data in 2.5D, presented at the International Visual Methods Conference, Brighton, September 2015 Design as analysis: examining the use of precedents in parliamentary debate, Proceedings of the Design Research Society Conference, Brighton, June 2016 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have happened without the generosity of those who have supported me during its production. Funding was provided by the Open University, an institution which was instrumental in the development of the academic discipline of design. Valuable guidance has been given by my three supervisors, Professors Peter Lloyd, Stephen Potter and Chris Earl, who patiently offered their various and valuable insights into the processes of design, the process of research and the production of a thesis. The OpenSpace Research Centre provided a welcome and welcoming second home on campus in which wider contexts were presented, different approaches explored and unexpected friendships forged. Finally I am indebted to the support and forbearance of my friends and my family and, my wife whose faith in me has been unwavering. Contents 1: INTRODUCTION: A JOURNEY FROM DESIGN TO DEBATE ...................................................................... 11 1.1 DESIGN ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 1.2 DEBATE .................................................................................................................................................................................... 16 1.3 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................................................ 17 1.4 OVERVIEW OF THESIS ............................................................................................................................................................ 19 2: DESIGN CONCEPTS: SHIFTS, FRAMES, PRECEDENTS AND PERSPECTIVES ...................................... 21 2.1 DESIGN AS A SHIFT IN PERSPECTIVE .................................................................................................................................... 21 2.2 FRAMING: A SHIFT IN THE DESIGNER’S PERSPECTIVE ....................................................................................................... 31 2.3 PRECEDENTS, PRINCIPLES AND VALUES .............................................................................................................................. 39 2.4 TEAM PERSPECTIVES ............................................................................................................................................................. 46 2.5 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................................................................... 56 3: PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE AND THE DESIGN PROCESS ......................................................................... 63 3.1 A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PARLIAMENTARY PROCESS AND THE DESIGN PROCESS ............................................... 63 3.2 APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF DESIGN ACTIVITY ............................................................................................................ 69 4: THE CONTEXT OF THE DEBATE AND ITS DOCUMENTARY DATA ......................................................... 75 4.1 THE CONTEXT OF THE DEBATE: HS2 AND ITS 19TH CENTURY PREDECESSOR ............................................................... 75 4.2 NAVIGATING A NINETEENTH CENTURY ARCHIVE ............................................................................................................... 81 4.3 NAVIGATING A TWENTY FIRST CENTURY ARCHIVE ............................................................................................................ 91 4.4 THE ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENTARY SOURCES ....................................................................................................................... 97 4.5 SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................................................