Critical Placemaking: towards a more critical engagement for participatory design in the urban environment

This paper offers a framework for design research that invites civic participation in the construction of place, and aims to reignite the conversation Nigel Cross raised in 1971 as a part of the first proceeding of the Design Research Society, calling on a need for user participation and intentional boundary-crossing. The need for new methods is no more evident than in the field of urban design. As global populations are migrating at unprecedented rates, new and different ideas and cultures are integrating and colliding at a high velocity. Additionally, the digital tools we use to understand and navigate urban environments as physical place, cultural space and social territory offer a new “place” and opportunities to rethink the role of the planner and designer in the process. This paper introduces the basis for novel forms of participatory design research that build on elements of placemaking, participatory design, co-creation and critical action to engage in a mutually critical and evaluative process between designers and users through the mapping process.