Post occupancy and participatory design evaluation of a marginalized low-income settlement in Ahmedabad, India

Urban agriculture is increasingly recognized for its potential contribution to more sustainable urban development. Urban agriculture includes the cultivation and raising, processing and marketing of food and non-food crops, medicinal and aromatic herbs, fruit trees, as well as animal products within urban and periurban areas. Urban agriculture positively impacts urban food security, local economic development, environmental management and community building. To reconcile the demands posed by urban growth with urban agriculture activities of high social and economic value, urban agriculture however should be included into land use planning and design, and regulated by municipalities, assuring its proper management and avoiding potential health and environmental risks. Open and green urban spaces could be designed for multifunctional urban agriculture and combine natural habitat, food production, educational, recreational and leisure activities. Such design processes would benefit from broad participation of urban planners and architects, urban farmers, citizens and slum inhabitants as to enhance ownership and engagement, more effectively use available local resources and give the process a higher credibility and wider outreach. This article shares the experience of Rosario, Argentina where the city planners and University staff collaborated with two low-income communities in the design and implementation of a multifunctional neighborhood park, public square and road reserve. A step-by-step participatory design process was followed: starting from initial visioning, defining and relating the various existing and multi-functional land uses desired, to elaborating the site plan, and agreeing on implementation procedures. The article briefly contextualizes the site and its inhabitants, illustrates the design process and the results achieved and highlights some of the problems encountered. Participatory design of open spaces for urban agriculture in Rosario- though a complex process- proved to have contributed to improving socio-economic and environmental conditions in the city, while also serving as a source of inspiration to other cities in the region.

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Participatory Urban Planning

Urban Environmental Education Review ◽

10.7591/cornell/9781501705823.003.0030 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Andrew Rudd ◽

Karen Malone ◽

M’Lis Bartlett

Keyword(s):

Urban Planning ◽

Environmental Education ◽

Low Income ◽

Participatory Design ◽

La Paz ◽

Underrepresented Groups ◽

Urban Environmental Education ◽

Child Friendly

This chapter examines how integrated, participatory design and urban environmental education can enhance learning, ownership, agency, and long-term sustainability of place. Drawing on recent efforts to articulate a global urban sustainability agenda, it considers the ways that urban environmental education can help integrate the participation of underrepresented groups—such as children, youth, and low-income and minority residents—in urban planning while also improving urban planning outcomes. The chapter presents a case study that illustrates outcomes of engaging young people in urban planning: the Child Friendly Bolivia project in La Paz, Bolivia. It shows that engaging youth and underrepresented groups in urban planning offers a unique opportunity to address concerns about equity and to engage multiple innovative perspectives. It suggests that the tools of participatory urban planning and environmental education may help create more sustainable cities for all.

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Self-Care Needs and Technology Preferences among Parents in Marginalized Communities: A Participatory Design Study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.27542 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Weichao Yuwen ◽

Miriana Duran ◽

Minghui Tan ◽

Teresa M. Ward ◽

Sunny Chieh Cheng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Participatory Design ◽

Self Care ◽

Design Approach ◽

Latino Parents ◽

Care Needs ◽

Marginalized Communities ◽

Unpaid Care ◽

Care Practices ◽

Low Income Families

BACKGROUND Ten million parents provide unpaid care to a child living with a chronic condition such as asthma, and a higher percentage of these parents are among marginalized communities, including racial and ethnic minority and low-income families. There is an urgent need to develop technology-enabled tailored solutions to support the self-care needs of these parents. OBJECTIVE To use a participatory design approach to describe and compare Latino and non-Latino parents’ current self-care practices, needs, and technology preferences when caring for children with asthma in marginalized communities. METHODS Participatory design approach was used to actively engage intended users in the design process and empower them to identify needs and generate design ideas to meet those needs. RESULTS Thirteen stakeholders participated in three design sessions. We described Latino and non-Latino parents’ similarities in self-care practices and cultural-specific preferences. When designing technologies for self-care, non-Latino parents focused on improving caregiving stress through journaling, daily affirmations, and tracking feelings, while Latino parents focused more on relaxation and entertainment. CONCLUSIONS Considerations need to be taken beyond language differences when developing technology-enabled interventions for diverse populations. The community partnership approach strengthened the study’s inclusive design.

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Participatory Design and Process Testing to Optimize Utility, Usability, and Acceptability of a Mobile Game for Promoting Evidence-Driven Public Health Decision-Making in Resource-Constrained Settings

Frontiers in Digital Health ◽

10.3389/fdgth.2021.788557 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Author(s):

James Douglas Sinnatwah ◽

Hajah Kenneh ◽

Alvan A. Coker ◽

Wahdae-Mai Harmon-Gray ◽

Joelyn Zankah ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Decision Making ◽

Low Income ◽

Participatory Design ◽

End Users ◽

Low Income Countries ◽

Design Team ◽

Training Methods ◽

Design Development ◽

Mobile Game

Innovative game-based training methods that leverage the ubiquity of cellphones and familiarity with phone-based interfaces have the potential to transform the training of public health practitioners in low-income countries such as Liberia. This article describes the design, development, and testing of a prototype of the Figure It Out mobile game. The prototype game uses a disease outbreak scenario to promote evidence-based decision-making in determining the causative agent and prescribing intervention measures to minimize epidemiological and logistical burdens in resource-limited settings. An initial prototype of the game developed by the US team was playtested and evaluated by focus groups with 20 University of Liberia Masters of Public Health (UL MPH) students. Results demonstrate that the learning objectives—improving search skills for identifying scientific evidence and considering evidence before decision-making during a public health emergency—were considered relevant and important in a setting that has repeatedly and recently experienced severe threats to public health. However, some of the game mechanics that were thought to enhance engagement such as trial-and-error and choose-your-own-path gameplay, were perceived by the target audience as distracting or too time-consuming, particularly in the context of a realistic emergency scenario. Gameplay metrics that mimicked real-world situations around lives lost, money spent, and time constraints during public health outbreaks were identified as relatable and necessary considerations. Our findings reflect cultural differences between the game development team and end users that have emphasized the need for end users to have an integral part of the design team; this formative evaluation has critically informed next steps in the iterative development process. Our multidisciplinary, cross-cultural and cross-national design team will be guided by Liberia-based public health students and faculty, as well as community members who represent our end user population in terms of experience and needs. These stakeholders will make key decisions regarding game objectives and mechanics, to be vetted and implemented by game design experts, epidemiologists, and software developers.

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Process + Product: The condition of low-cost housing in Bangkok, Thailand

10.26686/wgtn.17007823.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Samuel Peter Brown

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Participatory Design ◽

Design Research ◽

Low Cost ◽

Informal Settlement ◽

Living Situation ◽

Social Fabric ◽

Housing Design ◽

Collective Construction ◽

Low Income Housing

<p>The low-income housing situation in Bangkok, Thailand, is similar to that faced in many developing cities throughout the world. The housing opportunities afforded to residents classed as low-income dwellers, are minimal, unsuitable and inconsiderate of their complex social, cultural and spiritual requirements, often leading to the formation of slums, and squatter settlements. The close proximity of living experienced in informal settlements results in a community-focused style of living, where neighbours rely on each other to survive. This is translated not only into the social fabric of the informal settlement, but also into the architectural style of these vernacular communities. The process of helping construct your neighbour's home, builds social and cultural ties; these traits are often lost when outside parties attempt to ‘improve’ the low-income living situation. The idea of housing design as a process not just a product, also referred to as ‘cooked’ architecture, is widely promoted through the writings, research and design methodologies focused towards low-income housing endeavors (Rapoport, 1988; Sinha, 2012; Yap, 1990). Despite this, effective involvement of residents in developing and building their own homes is something rarely practiced or achieved within architecture, yet the benefits of including residents, who are the focus of a complex social and architectural situation, in the design process seems clear. There is little question that communities that work through this process become stronger, both socially and economically, however, the quality of housing and architectural output is still at a very low level, despite obvious improvements from the previous low-cost conditions. To address this, an architectural outcome has been developed utilizing a critical design approach. The implementation of ethnographic and participatory design research, as well as multiple design iterations, based on current and traditional modes, has resulted in an architecture that is culturally responsive, impacts the existing context lightly, and primarily provides a positive social scenario to encourage community betterment through collective construction and living.</p>

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Multi-Sectoral Participatory Design of a BabyWASH Playspace for Rural Ethiopian Households

American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene ◽

10.4269/ajtmh.20-0945 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sophie Budge ◽

Alison Parker ◽

Paul Hutchings ◽

Camila Garbutt ◽

Julia Rosenbaum ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Participatory Design ◽

Infant Health ◽

Group Discussion ◽

Feasibility Trial ◽

Oral Transmission ◽

Sanitation And Hygiene ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Domestic Livestock ◽

Current Water

Growing evidence suggests current water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions do not improve domestic hygiene sufficiently to improve infant health, nor consider the age-specific behaviors which increase infection risk. A household playspace (HPS) is described as one critical intervention to reduce direct fecal–oral transmission within formative growth periods. This article details both the design and development (materials and methods), and testing (results) of a HPS for rural Ethiopian households. Design and testing followed a multi-sectoral, multistep participatory process. This included a focus group discussion (FGD), two user-centered and participatory design workshops in the United Kingdom and Ethiopia, discussions with local manufacturers, and a Trials by Improved Practices (TIPs) leading to a final prototype design. Testing included the FGD and TIPs study and a subsequent randomized controlled feasibility trial in Ethiopian households. This multi-sectoral, multistage development process demonstrated a HPS is an acceptable and feasible intervention in these low-income, rural subsistence Ethiopian households. A HPS may help reduce fecal–oral transmission and infection—particularly in settings where free-range domestic livestock present an increased risk. With the need to better tailor interventions to improve infant health, this article also provides a framework for future groups developing similar material inputs and highlights the value of participatory design in this field.

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Old women and tablets: information behaviour in unfavourable contexts and social mediators

10.47989/irisic2007 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Martha Sabelli ◽

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Participatory Design ◽

Content Management ◽

Small Towns ◽

Capital Cities ◽

Five Dimensions ◽

Information Behaviour ◽

Wide Range ◽

Depth Interviews

Introduction. In Uruguay, the Ibirapitá Plan provides a tablet for every low-income retired woman. That motivated the research of old women’s information behaviour related to access and use of inclusive information for overcoming their disinformation. This work has the following purposes: (i) contributing to research focused on knowing and interpreting the role of social mediators and old women in the processes of access, search and appropriation of information using the Plan’s tablets; (ii) investigating users' needs of local information; and, (iii) offering such information in a participatory design of a digital solution for tablets by an interdisciplinary team. Methods. A mix of methods was applied using a questionnaire and mainly qualitative methods: in-depth interviews with qualified informants and trainers, observation of tablet-distribution workshops, focus groups and validation workshops of the digital solution designed for tablets applied in two capital cities and two small towns with the collaboration of community organisations. Analysis of the results.The analysis of the results is presented according to five dimensions of analysis and the questions that the research seeks to respond to. Discussion and conclusion. The affirmations and experiences raised regarding the technological device open a wide range of challenges to overcome and learning opportunities both for tablet users and for the production, content management and future designs of search interfaces.

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The Escambia Project: An Experiment in Community-Led Legal Design

Design Issues ◽

10.1162/desi_a_00603 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 36 (3) ◽

pp. 45-60

Author(s):

Melissa A. Moss

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Justice System ◽

Participatory Design ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Legal Aid ◽

Civil Justice ◽

Community Members ◽

Design Project ◽

Funded Project ◽

Experimental Community

This article shares observations made during an experimental community-led design project undertaken to identify promising new solutions for civil justice services which low-income Escambia County residents could easily use. The Florida Bar Foundation-funded project generated three new initiatives that were prototyped, filed tested, and prepared for continuation. The Escambia Project ultimately engaged more than 100 community members and relied on the support of dozens of local volunteers and organizations. All three initiatives have been adopted by the local legal aid program partner or the community and continue in some form. The article also contains lessons learned and recommendations for how community-led participatory design could help transform the justice system.

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PENERAPAN ARSITEKTUR PERILAKU PADA PERANCANGAN RUMAH SUSUN BAGI NELAYAN

Jurnal SCALE ◽

10.33541/scale.v6i2.44 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 14

Author(s):

Ulinata H

Keyword(s):

Population Growth ◽

Environmental Quality ◽

Low Income ◽

Time Budget ◽

Setting Time ◽

Design Criteria ◽

Design Evaluation ◽

Behavior Setting ◽

Residential Unit

The need for residence which is directly proportional to population growth bringsabout density and dinginess of fisherman settlement at Lorong Proyek, Bagan DeliVillage, Medan Belawan Subdistrict, North Sumatera. Density and dinginess in this areahave caused it to be improper so that the alternative in handling it is by designing anapartment for the fishermen who are dominated by low income people. A livableapartment should have a standardized residence without ignoring fishermen’s goodbehavior in the residential unit and its vicinity so that it can accommodate their needs,based on users’ satisfaction-based observation and design evaluation and by payingattention to the analysis on their behavior and needs while they live in the apartment.The process of designing an apartment was obtained from questionnaires andobservation through behavior setting, time budget, and behavioral mapping.Theobjective of the research was to yield design criteria which applied behavioralarchitecture in designing apartment for fishermen. It was expected to be able to copewith the problem of the decrease in the environmental quality to become a livableresidence which could accommodate apartment dwellers’ behavior/activity for fishermen.

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Coding Engines in Participatory Social Housing Design—A Case to Revisit Pattern Languages

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13063367 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. 3367

Author(s):

Viktor Bukovszki ◽

Gabriella Dóci ◽

András Reith

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Social Housing ◽

Participatory Design ◽

Early Stage ◽

Green Building ◽

Pattern Languages ◽

Housing Design ◽

Sustainable Lifestyle ◽

Shared Spaces ◽

Early Stage Design

Participation has been touted as a critical instrument for both citizen empowerment and responsibility-sharing in sustainability. In architecture, participation allows for the progression of green building to sustainable habitation that integrates environmental, economic, and social dimensions. However, participation in practice rarely delegates meaningful decisions to marginalized groups and is mostly a one-sided process. This study seeks to investigate which factors of the participatory method afford both empowerment and behavioral change to a sustainable lifestyle in low-income groups. To do so, a case study of designing a social housing estate in Hungary is presented, where participatory design was used to codevelop a building that considers and adjusts to the sustainable lifestyle envisioned by the future residents. A coding engine based on the concept of pattern languages was developed that places conditions and experience of everyday activities at the center of design, translating them to spatial features. As a result, a focus group of social housing tenants and cohousing experts were able to define explicit shared spaces, allocate square meters to them, and articulate legible design criteria. Of the early-stage design decisions, 45% were made with or by the participants, and the bilateral process made it possible to convince the tenants to adopt a more sustainable habitation format.

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