Abstract
Co-design is increasingly recognized as a means of public participation with the potential to bridge top-down policies and locally grounded change. Yet, when professional co-design practices remain aligned with dominant narratives of progress, they risk becoming instruments of govern mentality, reinforcing existing hierarchies and marginalizing local communities. This raises a critical question: how can co-design praxis disentangle itself from these narratives and attune to local competencies and imaginaries, particularly in rural contexts shaped by centralized governance? This research is embedded in a two-year co-design initiative focused on age-friendliness improvements in a village in Southern China. It employs design ethnographic approaches that dive into informal community dynamics to go alongside formal commissioned co-design initiatives. The blended approach aimed to uncover local practices, perspectives, and experiences initially overlooked in formal co-design processes and shared accounts. Informed by recovered stories or "subplots", this research surfaces hidden realities that have shaped co-design processes and outcomes in ways that challenge conventional, rational solution-oriented narratives. The research also reflects on shifts in the author's practice, questioning the assumed role of the professional designer and calling for a move away from expert-centered positionalities.
Keywords
Co-design; Design ethnography; Community-based practices; Rural China
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.1099
Citation
Tan, J.(2025) Foregrounding subplots and shifting practices in co-design: an ethnographic journey in a Chinese village, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.1099
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 6 - Co-creation
Foregrounding subplots and shifting practices in co-design: an ethnographic journey in a Chinese village
Co-design is increasingly recognized as a means of public participation with the potential to bridge top-down policies and locally grounded change. Yet, when professional co-design practices remain aligned with dominant narratives of progress, they risk becoming instruments of govern mentality, reinforcing existing hierarchies and marginalizing local communities. This raises a critical question: how can co-design praxis disentangle itself from these narratives and attune to local competencies and imaginaries, particularly in rural contexts shaped by centralized governance? This research is embedded in a two-year co-design initiative focused on age-friendliness improvements in a village in Southern China. It employs design ethnographic approaches that dive into informal community dynamics to go alongside formal commissioned co-design initiatives. The blended approach aimed to uncover local practices, perspectives, and experiences initially overlooked in formal co-design processes and shared accounts. Informed by recovered stories or "subplots", this research surfaces hidden realities that have shaped co-design processes and outcomes in ways that challenge conventional, rational solution-oriented narratives. The research also reflects on shifts in the author's practice, questioning the assumed role of the professional designer and calling for a move away from expert-centered positionalities.