We will explore in depth the four phases in the development of a participatory process, including the identification of the types of activities according to the purposes being pursued, their preparation, the identification of stakeholders, and appropriate methods and tools for its optimal implementation, including their potential effects.

Reading 5.1

Sarantou, M., Alhonsuo, M., Gutierrez Novoa, C., & Remotti, S. (2021). Generating stakeholder workshops for policymaking in digital environments through participatory service design. Malta Review of Educational Research, 15(S), 119-136.

Reading 5.1 can be downloaded from here.

.Activity 1. Designing a participatory process

*Note: You need to download the activity form from here or at the end of this instruction.

You live in a medium-sized city and work at a local arts centre whose aim is to use art to engage people with socially relevant matters and foster social innovation processes.

The city where you live is surrounded by a beautiful landscape. Parks and rivers cross the city as well, but some of these areas are not particularly attractive to locals, well-taken care of, or recognized as constituent elements of the local identity.

Your organization joins a project that pursues the following objective: the design and implementation of a programme of activities, events, and exhibitions to engage people with the local natural landscape through art. The expected outcomes include raising citizen awareness of the local natural heritage, improving attitudes and behaviours in relation to art and culture, and creating synergies with the local government, which shares similar goals.

Overall, you have one year to carry out this project. Your core team comprises four people, although the organization is much larger. You choose to employ a participatory design methodology to maximize the impact of the project – designing with the community and not only for the community.

Fill in the timeline table on the next page by indicating which participatory activities you plan to carryout throughout the project. Please indicate the type of activity (field studies, workshops, prototyping sessions, infrastructuring, and evaluation), and for each activity, indicate the degree of participation expected (information, consultation, deciding together, acting together, supporting initiatives). You can include as many activities as you want as long as you think they are feasible in the given time frame.

There is one key constraint: you need to include at least one activity-based group session in your plan. This means, for example, that you cannot draft a plan that only includes one-to-one interviews or a group discussion; some practical activities must also be included.

Thereafter, fill in the stakeholder table, indicating the type of stakeholder that you plan to involve, the benefit they expect from the participatory activity, and their expected contribution. You do not need to mention specific names; categories are sufficient. Finally, indicate using different colours the most crucial stakeholders (those with the highest level of interest and impact).

The detail instruction is downloadable in this link.