Abstract
This chapter explores the challenges and experiences of scaling Participatory Design. The chapter first discusses the notion of “scaling” and what that might mean for Participatory Design by presenting how different researchers have explicitly conceptualised “scale” in their work. There are very diverse understandings of what “scaling” may mean, and though it is often expressed as an important concern, definitions of scaling are often missing and only occasionally go beyond a “small and simple” and “large and complex” dichotomy. The chapter presents four contributions that more extensively deal with scaling and propose conceptual frameworks for how to approach scaling in Participatory Design. Subsequently, two dominant framings of scaling Participatory Design: Socio-spatial and temporal are presented. This is then followed by a discussion of the ways through which the diversification of Participatory Design across geographies – termed as onto-epistemological scaling – complicates the socio-spatial and temporal framings of scale and scaling. Finally, the chapter discusses how the challenges of scaling are a matter of increasing complexities in Participatory Design research and practice.
Overall, the chapter shows that scaling has been explored within Participatory Design from its inception in many publications thus countering the notion that “most Participatory Design projects are small scale”. We demonstrate how each form of scaling intertwines with one another as Participatory Design contends with the complexity of our world(s). In doing so we highlight the need to develop nuanced concepts and frameworks of scaling to consolidate the present somewhat dispersed contributions to this topic.
Readers will learn about different meanings and framings of scaling, including socio-spatial and temporal ones, and how this is complicated by onto-epistemological scaling. Further, readers will learn about conceptual frameworks for understanding scaling and a variety of cases from which inspiration and experiences can be gathered for considering issues of scale in their own engagements with scaling of Participatory Design projects.
Overall, the chapter shows that scaling has been explored within Participatory Design from its inception in many publications thus countering the notion that “most Participatory Design projects are small scale”. We demonstrate how each form of scaling intertwines with one another as Participatory Design contends with the complexity of our world(s). In doing so we highlight the need to develop nuanced concepts and frameworks of scaling to consolidate the present somewhat dispersed contributions to this topic.
Readers will learn about different meanings and framings of scaling, including socio-spatial and temporal ones, and how this is complicated by onto-epistemological scaling. Further, readers will learn about conceptual frameworks for understanding scaling and a variety of cases from which inspiration and experiences can be gathered for considering issues of scale in their own engagements with scaling of Participatory Design projects.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Routledge International Handbook of Contemporary Participatory Design |
Editors | Rachel Charlotte Smith, Daria Loi, Heike Winschiers-Theophilus, Liesbeth Huybrechts, Jesper Simonsen |
Place of Publication | London |
Publisher | Routledge |
Chapter | 2 |
Pages | 27-50 |
Number of pages | 24 |
Edition | 1st |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781003334330 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781032368887, 9781032368894 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 31 Jan 2025 |
Publication series
Name | Routledge International Handbooks |
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Publisher | Routledge |