Participation for Real: Who Participates?

Participation is not just a question of group composition. These processes are mainly about asking the right questions: Who sits at the table? To whom should we pose the question? How do we compose the group we are going to ask for opinions? And perhaps most importantly: Is this group representative of the people to be affected by the new architectural and/or planning decisions?

In practice, designers often do not have the luxury of months of field research or wide-ranging surveys. Due to limitations of time and resources, they usually reach only a limited group, so quantitative measurement tools are often not sufficient to reach a critical mass. Moreover, their worldview largely influences how they interpret feedback. The result is often that people who didn’t participate or sometimes even the ones who did do not feel heard.

After thorough research of all kinds of participation measurement tools, Timelab Academy introduces the Impactor: a new tool for the active questioning of impact through the eyes of the participant. This tool is based on the Impact Frontiers movement (impactfrontiers.org), which focuses on measuring real impact on people and the planet. Timelab Academy has translated this knowledge into the context of participation in urban development.

During the workshop, we will work hands-on with the Impactor and discover how this intuitive and tactile tool guides participants to the deeper context of their responses. Through practical exercises and interactive sessions, you will learn how to use the Impactor in your own projects to improve the quality of participation and impact measurement.

(Illustration: Sofie De Cleene)