Critical indirectness as a design approach in participatory practice: Spatialities of multivocal estrangement in three engagements with public cultural institutions around participatory projects in Gothenburg
As one of six Research Fellows in the multi- and transdisciplinary EU Marie Curie network PhD project TRADERS (Training Art and Design Researchers in Participation for Public Space – http://tr-aders.eu) (2014-2017), based at Chalmers University of Technology in the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, my PhD project (2014-2020) had a strong practice dimension in its connections and collaborations with public cultural institutions, external art and design practitioners, and participatory projects initiated by myself and others. Within broad fields of urban studies and architecture and urbanism research, I developed a critical ‘multivocal’ design approach attuned to the complexities of participation and of engaging with (and within) public sector institutions, through inquiry into three art- and design-led participatory projects in Backaplan and Frölunda which involved children, youth, and seniors in different configurations, experiences of public spaces, and which connected in different ways with the city and its development.
Keywords: design, design approach, estrangement, indirectness, multivocal design approach, multivocality, participation, critical spatial practice, spatiality, transdisciplinary architectural research
Geib, J. (2019). Critical indirectness as a design approach in participatory practice: Spatialities of multivocal estrangement in three engagements with public cultural institutions around participatory projects in Gothenburg. Doctoral Thesis, Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering.