Beyond the castle:public space co-design, a case study and guidelines for designers

In this paper we describe a high profile project to reimagine a large green space in the heart of the city of Lancaster in the UK. This co-design project involved professional designers but also 2500 people with 700 of these making an active co-design contribution. This project forms the basis of a discussion of how we used a series of events to help participants reach their full creative co-design potential moving from doing to creating levels of creativity. From this case study we go on to develop a framework of recommendations to help designers reflect on their normal practice and how they need to operate within a co-design project. These recommendations seek to maximise the benefits of this approach and produce good design outcomes. This framework has been evaluated in a series of international workshops in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands

Talking about food:reflecting on transitions of practice in people with lived experience of food poverty

In this paper, we deploy a practice theory lens to explore how co-design activities have enabled individuals to transition to new and different advocacy, inquiry and engagement practices. The co-design project we describe sought to bring about change in a national network of organisations addressing food poverty in the UK. The aim of the project was to collaborate with young people and adults from different communities of the North of England to co-design tools for gathering stories and enabling advocacy relating to food insecurity. We use a practice theory lens to describe the relationships between co-design activities and transitions in practices of a single participant. The findings show the value of exploring and sharing meanings, practical experimentation and facilitating transitions within participant’s practice. We argue that practice theory provides an analytical framework to understand the impacts of co-design and social design by interpreting the transitioning practices in participants

Health and Wellbeing:Challenging Co- Design for Difficult Conversations, Successes and Failures of the Leapfrog Approach

Conversations are an everyday element of health and social care practice, and improving them could lead to widespread positive impacts on care provision. We present three initiatives to improve difficult conversation through three case studies, each using co-design to produce tools for later use by practitioners. The approach taken is knowingly risky, as tools can be difficult to co-design and difficult to encourage others to use, leading to failures as well as successes. Alongside specific empirical insights from the case studies we discuss the benefits of co-designing flexible tools for ongoing use and adaptation by practitioners, and the implications of this approach for the sustainability and impact of co-design initiatives

Providing Fast Flowing Calm Waters:The role of the Design Manager in mid-large scale Public Sector Co-Design Projects

Co-Design is very challenging in a public sector context yet the role of Design Management in this field is seldom touched on in literature. Using an action research approach we present 3 case studies of mid-large scale of co-design projects. Focussing on how the challenge of activating citizens and managing complex multi stakeholder projects were addressed through a Design Manager role. We explore the evolving role of the Design Manager, and the skills and human qualities required for them to work across strategic, management and operational strands in complex, collaborative projects. From this we present a model of Design Management for managing community-led co-design projects to create calm waters for co-design. The contribution of a model of Design Management for co-design in the public sector can be applied to the facilitation of any co-design project. In conclusion we make 3 key insights and recommendations in relation to the model

Flourish by design:agendas and practice for positive change

Design impacts everyday life, shaping the way we engage with the world and those around us, humans and non-humans. This introductory essay presents the notion of flourishing as a springboard for different perspectives and practices. Coupled with the role of design in shaping a better world for everyone and everything, it seeks to query what the implications might mean if we are to flourish by design. Design research can be a valuable way to explore unchartered territory and revel in uncertain ground. By providing overviews of the three sections of the book, the essay sets out core themes for how we are in the world as well as how we might want to be. Design has power. It can allow us to question prevailing approaches and inspire new ones and to investigate why it enables us to radically rethink what design can do, when, and for whom

Co-designing tools to empower further, independent co-design:Collaborating with diverse individuals with lived experience of food poverty

Food poverty is an acute, growing and highly impactful social, political and practical challenge for the UK in 2019. This paper describes collaborative design undertaken by researchers from the Leapfrog project and practitioners from Food Power, a national network tackling food poverty. In this paper we describe 3 elements of a substantial co-design research project. We describe how co-designers from very difference constituencies (in age and location) developed tools and resources that helped the voice of people in food poverty be more clearly heard. The aim of this project is for the clear articulation of the impacts of food poverty to effect policy and policy maker. Helping in the long term to remove the need for food banks and other tactical responses to systemic food poverty challenges. The case studies presented have wider implications for the creation of tools and resources to help co-design, mass creativity and engagement at scale