Publications

Intermediary ecologies and participatory infrastructures in wind power planning – towards a practice of design for just transitions

Tessa Laven, Ramia Mazé, Niki Wallace

Participatory Design Conference 2026

This paper analyses how transition intermediaries and participatory infrastructures shape an unjust energy licensing process and outlines implications for design for just transitions. Centring on the Fosen Wind Farm in Norway, where wind power development violated Indigenous Sámi cultural rights, it traces how licensing enabled renewable expansion while generating democratic and rights-based conflicts. Using historical case analysis and a synthesis of various literatures, the paper explores the intermediary ecology of licensing and shows how interactions among transition intermediaries structure power asymmetries. In dialogue with design research on infrastructuring, it proposes three practices for design in just transition contexts: unveiling institutional–cultural divides, platforming under-represented voices, and engaging in ongoing collaborative infrastructuring and reflexivity. It argues that designers must act in power-aware, rights-oriented ways if transitions are to be both sustainable and just.

A Tale of Two Conceptual Tools: Analysing leverage point tools in relation to a water utility’s circular economy transition

Tessa Laven, Ramia Mazé, Niki Wallace

RSD14: Arcs of Impact

Through three analysis processes, we compare the conceptual tools then apply each to analyse the case. Our analysis reveals how each tool surfaces different system and intervention logics, and opportunities for enhancing a systems design approach with respect to the transition in focus. On the basis of our analysis, we discuss some benefits and limits of the two tools, which can contribute to theoretically and practically deepening Design for Transitions and systemic design. We highlight the possibility for future work in integrating the two tools together, potentially enabling a multi-dimensional understanding of system components, behaviours, underlying logics, relational fabrics within and outside of the system, and enhanced capacity for change.

Imagination, Reflexivity and Agency in Institutional Change and Public Policy

Lucy Kimbell, Marzia Mortati

Participatory Design Conference 2026 , Published: June 14, 2026

This positioning paper examines how participatory design (PD) operates within and in relation to institutional change and public policy through three intertwined lenses: imagination, reflexivity, and agency. Drawing on five full and five exploratory papers in the conversation on Civic Issues and Participation: Urban Matters, we analyse how PD expands civic imaginaries, enables reflexive critique of institutional relations and knowledge, and supports relational and distributed forms of agency across organisations and publics. The contributions demonstrate that PD is no longer confined to project-based interventions but is entangled with infrastructures, governance arrangements, and policy processes. Building on these insights, we sketch a future research agenda for PD that foregrounds embedded engagement, organisational learning, and epistemic justice, advancing the potential of participatory practices to contribute to more democratic, equitable, and sustainable institutional futures by working through the tensions between imagination, reflexivity, and agency in practice.

Countering tokenism in e-participation: Potentials of participatory design in democratic policymaking

Jia Xin Liu, Marzia Mortati, Lucy Kimbell

DRS Conference Proceedings

The implementation of e-participation platforms in policymaking has removed spatial and temporal barriers to citizen engagement; however, digitalisation also introduces new challenges which undermine democratic values and risk participation outcomes becoming symbolic and superficial. In this paper, we conducted a narrative literature review and examined barriers in e-participation through the framework of narrow and broad sense tokenism. Through a theoretical discussion, we position participatory design (PD) as a steward in addressing tokenistic participation, focusing on PD’s notion of creating carefully designed participation ‘spaces’ and ‘approaches’ that foster more democratic, deliberative, and inclusive forms of digital participation, thereby countering tokenistic tendencies.

Adopting a diffractive approach to journey mapping in the exploration of scaling citizen assemblies in Sweden

Christina Lindeberg, Nicola Morelli, Luca Simeone

SERVDES 2025 : Research Papers

This paper presents an experiment with participants of a city-level citizen assembly in Sweden. During the experiment, journey mapping was used within a diffraction apparatus, and diffractive reading enabled the collective exploration of barriers to and opportunities for scaling citizen assemblies. This diffractive approach enabled plurality to be explored, complexity to be visualised, and shifted the researcher’s position, increasing participants’ power over their voice. Further research is recommended to explore how diffraction and service design can mutually benefit each other to facilitate sustainable transitions.

Sustainable Transitions through Democratic Design: Insights and Reflections on Doctoral Training

Lucy Kimbell, Marzia Mortati, Karol Murlak, Laurene Vaughan

This publication explores the evolution of doctoral education in design. It addresses challenges such as preparing graduates for complex socio-environmental issues, integrating AI and developing leadership skills for service and policy design. It presents the training methods and tools used in CoDesign4Transitions to address these challenges, such as the PhD Canvas, which aim to empower doctoral candidates to act as agents of change, foster collaboration with partners and each other, and facilitate knowledge exchange. Through ethical participation and regular self-assessment, the network ensures that learning remains inclusive, respectful and responsive to community needs.