Provocation, Conflict, and Appropriation: The Role of the Designer in Making Publics

• Published in: Design issues Vol. 34; no. 4; pp. 3 - 7
• Main Authors: Hansson, Karin, Forlano, Laura, Choi, Jaz Hee-jeong, DiSalvo, Carl, Pargman, Teresa Cerratto, Bardzell, Shaowen, Lindtner, Silvia, Joshi, Somya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: One Rogers Street, Cambridge, MA 02142-1209, USA MIT Press 01-10-2018; MIT Press Journals, The
• Subjects: Belgium; Co-design; critical design; Denmark; Design; design as research; Design practice; England; infrastructuring; Participation; Participatory design; participatory design methodology; Reflexivity; speculative design; thinging
• ISSN: 0747-9360; 1531-4790; 1531-4790
• DOI: 10.1162/desi_a_00506

The role and embodiment of the designer/artist in making publics is significant. This special issue draws attention to reflexive practices in Art & Design, and questions how these practices are embedded in the formations and operations of publics, grounded in six cases of participatory design conducted in the United States, India, Turkey, England, Denmark, and Belgium. From these design practices, typologies of participation are formulated that describe the role of the designer. These typologies describe different and sometimes conflicting epistemologies—providing designers with a vocabulary to communicate a diversity of participatory settings and supporting reflexive practices.