Participation for Real: What After the Design?

The making of buildings and urban spaces are long processes with planned phases from the very start. These phases are clearly defined and usually end sharply. However, participants do not only partake in a very pragmatic decision-making process, they also engage with the process personally and emotionally. Cutting off a community from one phase to another is hardly a good way to ensure the lively use of these spaces. The group with its ever-evolving character can be kept alive even after the design. Instead of relying on the individual input of people and ideas to use as feedback (what we normally see), the focus can be shifted towards the structure and governance, to make the group enable a self-organised system to onboard new people and forces.

The Transformative Communities Canvas, developed by Timelab Academy, is a tool to understand the different roles of different actors. In this workshop, you will learn how to map actors in a participatory process and then develop the capacity to see yourselves in open and adaptable systems.

(Illustration: Sofie De Cleene)