Abstract
This paper offers a critical account of using a layered systemic design process to surface the complexity of a superdiverse neighbourhood - Jackson Heights, Queens, New York. The approach employs systemic design practices through walking and iterative prototyping to encounter a multiplicity of experiences and forms of participation that shape place. Four methodological contributions are presented: critical vignettes from ethnographic walks framing complexity, systemic visualization from walks with residents, three prototypes of archives and across the paper, accounts of systemic participation shaping place. The layered approach is presented as a form of systemic design participation in itself. It reveals how superdiverse places are sites of localized participation and governance that may resist, adapt to or deviate from normative policymaking. It advances research in systemic and place-based design practice by linking community experiences to systemic conditions while offering opportunities for design researchers to grow contextual awareness when working with marginalized communities.
Keywords
Systemic Design, Place-based Design, Design and Policy
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.469
Citation
Datta, M., and Champlin, C. (2026) Designing within Superdiversity: Encountering Forms of Systemic Participation Through Layered Exploration of an Immigrant Neighbourhood, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.469
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Designing within Superdiversity: Encountering Forms of Systemic Participation Through Layered Exploration of an Immigrant Neighbourhood
This paper offers a critical account of using a layered systemic design process to surface the complexity of a superdiverse neighbourhood - Jackson Heights, Queens, New York. The approach employs systemic design practices through walking and iterative prototyping to encounter a multiplicity of experiences and forms of participation that shape place. Four methodological contributions are presented: critical vignettes from ethnographic walks framing complexity, systemic visualization from walks with residents, three prototypes of archives and across the paper, accounts of systemic participation shaping place. The layered approach is presented as a form of systemic design participation in itself. It reveals how superdiverse places are sites of localized participation and governance that may resist, adapt to or deviate from normative policymaking. It advances research in systemic and place-based design practice by linking community experiences to systemic conditions while offering opportunities for design researchers to grow contextual awareness when working with marginalized communities.