Providing a critical view on user participation in design disentangling decision making and
power in design this book uses fieldwork material from two large participatory design
projects: one experimental in the field of urban planning the other a product development
project within health care. Addressing power issues in participatory design is critical to
providing a realistic view of the possibilities and limitations of participation. Design is
decision-making: during a design process a huge number of decisions taken before the designers
end up with a design result - an artefact or system. All decisions are a choice between
possibilities and selecting one of them and making it concrete as a change in an artefact is a
demonstration of the capacity to transform which is a key aspect of power. Participatory
designers are committed to empowering users and facilitating a design process where users are
able to take part in all types of decisions. This volume explores the challenges for
practitioners of participatory design arising from this commitment by asking what participation
really means: who should participate and in which parts of a design process what does it mean
to share power with users how are decisions to be made in a participatory way and what is it
that users participate in? The book provides a conceptual framework for understanding these
issues as well as a fresh look at participation.
