Design Empowerment: Participatory Design Towards Social Sustainability

Abstract

Sustainability and sustainable design are more concerned with the physical environment than the social dimension. But design should give sufficient attention to social sustainability for balanced development. Although social sustainability’s definition is vague due to its excessively abundant connotation, power is always core. When it comes to shaping a fair and just distribution of power in society, empowerment is crucial to optimize power allocation. Through historical overview, conceptual analysis, and case studies, this paper argues that empowerment is the core criterion of participatory design because participatory design changes the power relationship among participants profoundly, then summarizes the key elements to achieve empowerment. While participatory design contributes to social sustainability, it also illustrates the inevitable responsibility of design.