CoDesign: People, Participation, Practice - Simone Taffe

CoDesign: People, Participation, Practice explores the past, present, trends, and future potential of codesign and participatory practices globally. Rooted in participatory design traditions, the book emphasizes the importance of inclusivity in the creation of systems, products, services, and technologies, offering a fresh perspective on codesign’s dynamic, multifaceted nature. Drawing on interviews with leading scholars and real-world case studies, it examines how collaboration among designers, academics, students, and industry partners leads to successful outcomes.

The book identifies three core themes – People, Participation, and Practice – each unpacked into subthemes. People focusses on engaging and facilitating stakeholders; Participation explores power dynamics and politics; and Practice addresses how infrastructure constraints – such as time, budget, and context – shape the codesign process. The codesign process is organized into eight phases – funding, arranging, preparing, workshopping, translating, testing, executing, and evaluating – providing a structured framework for understanding how projects unfold. The themes under the core elements – People, Participation, and Practices – serve as adjustable ‘levers’ to address project challenges and guide change. These levers encourage reflection on roles, power dynamics, and decision-making to ensure alignment with goals. CoDesign: People, Participation, Practice concludes with a CoDesign Terminology Toolkit, clarifying essential terms to improve communication and foster understanding across the field.

This comprehensive resource serves as a valuable guide for practitioners, students, and researchers, supporting the ongoing development of codesign in an ever-evolving world.