Faithful to the Process. Representation Strategies for the Participatory Design

Abstract

Public participation in architecture implies a change to the whole traditional range of subjects and objects and opens to a new process whose results are not foreseen from the designer. Architectural drawing is asked to change as well; the paper questions representation languages and techniques, investigating which ones can be inclusive so that the final user can actively participate from the beginning to the end of the participatory process. The aim is to reflect on strategies, more than locked solutions, for this actual challenge in architecture making. Some experiences and international experimentations between the first and the third worlds are identified as best practices into design representation useful for the participatory process, considering both how ever-new digital technologies renew the traditional ones.