Multiple Views of Participatory Design

Participatory design is an attitude about a force for change in the creation and management of environments for people. Today participatory design processes are being applied to urban design and planning as well as to the fields of industrial and information technology. Citizen’s working towards collective outcomes, has been described as visioning, strategic planning, and deliberative democracy, all aimed at actions that shape and guide what a community is, what it does, and why it does it. Overall, studies in participation conducted during the past decade have referred to such benefits as citizen empowerment, increasing social capital and promoting a sense of community.