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Design with the feet: walking methods and participatory design

Published: 06 October 2014 Publication History

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of walking methods and their relation to participatory design (PD). The paper includes a study of walking methods found in the literature and an empirical study of transect walks in a PD project. From this analysis, we identify central attributes of, and challenges to, PD walks. Walking with people in the context of design is a natural activity for the participatory designer, who acknowledges the importance of immersion and relationships in design. However, the various intentions of walking approaches indicate an underacknowledged awareness of walking methods. With this study, we take a step towards a methodological framework for "design with the feet" in PD.

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  • (2025)Walking alone, together participatory design as orchestrating between remoteness and situatedness in decision-makingCoDesign10.1080/15710882.2025.2457492(1-19)Online publication date: 30-Jan-2025
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  • (2024)Justice-oriented Design Listening: Participatory Ecoacoustics with a Ghanaian Forest CommunityProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3643044(1-12)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
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    cover image ACM Other conferences
    PDC '14: Proceedings of the 13th Participatory Design Conference: Research Papers - Volume 1
    October 2014
    178 pages
    ISBN:9781450322560
    DOI:10.1145/2661435
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

    Sponsors

    • MTC Namibia: MTC Namibia
    • NCRST: National Commission on Research Science & Technology
    • Schoemans: Schoemans Office Systems
    • PC Centre: PC Centre Namibia
    • Syntex Technologies: Syntex Technologies (Pty) Ltd
    • SAIS: Southern Africa Innovation Support programme
    • Air Namibia: Air Namibia
    • Green: Green Enterprise Solutions (Pty) Ltd
    • NBIC: Namibia Business Innovation Centre
    • Embaixada de Portugal em Windhoek: Embaixada de Portugal em Windhoek
    • German Embassy in Windhoek: Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany Windhoek
    • CRAN: Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia

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    New York, NY, United States

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    Published: 06 October 2014

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    Author Tags

    1. neighbourhood
    2. participatory design
    3. transect walks
    4. walking methods

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    PDC '14
    Sponsor:
    • MTC Namibia
    • NCRST
    • Schoemans
    • PC Centre
    • Syntex Technologies
    • SAIS
    • Air Namibia
    • Green
    • NBIC
    • Embaixada de Portugal em Windhoek
    • German Embassy in Windhoek
    • CRAN
    PDC '14: Participatory Design Conference
    October 6 - 10, 2014
    Windhoek, Namibia

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    PDC '14 Paper Acceptance Rate 17 of 62 submissions, 27%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 49 of 289 submissions, 17%

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    Cited By

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    • (2025)Walking alone, together participatory design as orchestrating between remoteness and situatedness in decision-makingCoDesign10.1080/15710882.2025.2457492(1-19)Online publication date: 30-Jan-2025
    • (2024)Transformative Narratives: Fostering Ubuntu-Inspired Participatory Design PracticesProceedings of the Participatory Design Conference 2024: Exploratory Papers and Workshops - Volume 210.1145/3661455.3669878(107-113)Online publication date: 11-Aug-2024
    • (2024)Justice-oriented Design Listening: Participatory Ecoacoustics with a Ghanaian Forest CommunityProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3643044(1-12)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
    • (2024)A review of walk-and-talk conversations with children as a research methodJournal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning10.1080/14729679.2024.2404656(1-17)Online publication date: 17-Sep-2024
    • (2024)Transdisciplinary approaches assessing unmanaged urban green spaces reveal benefits for biodiversity and peopleSocio-Ecological Practice Research10.1007/s42532-024-00184-y6:2(155-175)Online publication date: 5-Jun-2024
    • (2024)Improving locomotive syndrome risk level through community‐led activities to establish walking habitsJAPAN ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW10.1002/2475-8876.124337:1Online publication date: 8-Feb-2024
    • (2023)Conserving the Sacred: Socially Innovative Efforts in the Loita Enaimina Enkiyio Forest in KenyaLand10.3390/land1209170612:9(1706)Online publication date: 31-Aug-2023
    • (2023)IMPROVING DEGREE OF LOCOMOTIVE SYNDROME THROUGH COMMUNITY-LED ACTIVITIES TO ESTABLISH WALKING HABITS地域住民主導の歩行習慣定着活動によるロコモ度向上Journal of Architecture and Planning (Transactions of AIJ)10.3130/aija.88.332688:814(3326-3333)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2023
    • (2023)Infusing Futuring into Community-based Co-design: A Pathway to Innovative Technology Design with Indigenous Communities in AfricaProceedings of the 4th African Human Computer Interaction Conference10.1145/3628096.3629049(151-161)Online publication date: 27-Nov-2023
    • (2023)Ancestral and Cultural Futuring: Speculative Design in an Indigenous ovaHimba contextProceedings of the 11th International Conference on Communities and Technologies10.1145/3593743.3593761(85-95)Online publication date: 29-May-2023
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