ABSTRACT

This article explores growing concerns behind the potential instrumentalization of participatory design within democratic institutions and city-making projects. Drawing on ethnographic data collected during a participatory urban redevelopment in Sydney, it analyzes the wider political, economic, and cultural dynamics shaping participatory design (PD) in contested urban spaces. As a result, the article reflects on the institutional frameworks that challenged the democratic claims of PD, analyzing three interdependent levels of institutional constraints: ideology, governance, and narratives. In doing so, the article interrogates the role of expert-led urban governance, of neoliberal ideologies, and the power/knowledge relations in the building of a consensus narrative. Finally, the article concludes by highlighting the contingency of the so-called constraints, exploring an alternative conceptualization of institutions as social relations. Following this approach, designers may challenge constraints and simultaneously work with, against, and beyond institutions.

摘要

本文探讨了民主机构和城市建设项目中参与式设计潜在工具化背后日益增长的担忧。它利用在悉尼参与式城市重建期间收集的民族志数据，分析了在有争议的城市空间中塑造参与式设计 (PD) 的更广泛的政治、经济和文化动态。因此，本文反思了挑战 PD 民主主张的制度框架，分析了制度约束的三个相互依存的层面：意识形态、治理和叙事。在此过程中，本文审视了专家主导的城市治理、新自由主义意识形态以及权力/知识关系在构建共识叙事中的作用。最后，文章最后强调了所谓约束的偶然性，探索了将制度作为社会关系的另一种概念化。按照这种方法，设计师可以挑战限制，同时与机构合作、反对机构或超越机构。