Unmaking as Agonism: Using Participatory Design with Youth to Surface Difference in an Intergenerational Urban Context

Title of the Paper

Unmaking as Agonism: Using Participatory Design with Youth to Surface Difference in an Intergenerational Urban Context

Paper Information

• Subject Area: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Participatory Design, Youth Civic Engagement, Social Design Methodology
• Keywords: agonism, youth, older adults, civic engagement, making, unmaking, participatory design, critical unmaking, virtual reality

Research Background and Problem

• Problem or Challenge:

  • Social and technological design often focuses on "making" new products or interfaces, with limited research on "unmaking."
  • Youth are frequently excluded from traditional design and democratic participation studies.
  • Intergenerational conflicts over priorities in urban public spaces and resources remain underexplored.
  • Youth face systemic neglect from policymakers, parents, or communities.

• Significance:

  • In the face of societal challenges such as climate change, inequality, and environmental degradation, it is crucial for citizens to collaboratively seek diverse, localized solutions.
  • Understanding "how youth engage in social critique and systemic challenges through design" can provide better tools for public discourse and democratic practice.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  • Discusses "agonistic democracy," which emphasizes "embracing conflict" and achieving diverse collaboration in social interactions.
  • Existing HCI literature addresses critical practices in design (e.g., "critical making") but rarely explores explicit "unmaking" actions.
  • Explores the possibilities and significance of "critical unmaking" through participatory design, youth perspectives, and intergenerational issues in public space resource allocation.

Solution

• Methods and Solutions:

  • Proposes "critical unmaking" as a key action in design. Unlike traditional design approaches that emphasize creative production, visualization, and "making-first" methods, critical unmaking focuses on how "destruction" or "removal" can foster agonistic discussions and intergenerational collaboration.
  • Explores how unmaking strategies can provoke conflict and reveal latent community differences through a youth-oriented design internship program, "CivicDIY."

• Innovations:

  • Introduces the concept of "unmaking" in conjunction with agonistic democracy, proposing critical unmaking as an important yet overlooked design tool.
  • Positions taboo and controversy as central to design discussions; not merely creating consensus but also surfacing differences.
  • Focuses methodological attention on youth as deconstructors of social complexity and builders of the future world.

• Implementation Steps:

  • Uses qualitative research methods (e.g., ethnographic observation, interviews, artifact analysis) to document the design process of youth and their interactions with older community members.
  • Observes how youth reinterpret community space resources, propose new ideas, and create prototypes.
  • Facilitates presentations and dialogues between youth and older adults to explore how conflicts are expressed and addressed.

Research Outcomes

• Specific Findings:

  1. Social Feedback Driven by Design: Defines "critical unmaking" and demonstrates its ability to significantly reveal underlying disparities in social mobility, land priorities, and resource allocation.
  2. Effectiveness of Agonistic Practices: Critical unmaking enabled youth to directly challenge social inequalities and community systems through design interactions. While it led to intense confrontations, it also fostered discussions on "distributive justice."
  3. Intergenerational Perspectives on Conflict: Youth expressed concerns about unequal resource distribution on the island, such as proposing the "demolition of luxury residential buildings," which elicited older adults' appeals for preserving history and tranquil spaces.

• Advantages and Comparisons:

  • Compared to traditional design methods like "virtual reality making," critical unmaking places greater emphasis on uncovering underlying social disparities and discontent.
  • The agonistic discussions it generates expand the discourse space of participatory design, rather than merely addressing predefined user or design research problems.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  • Youth felt a sense of accomplishment in the project but expressed a preference for targeting a younger audience after communicating with older adults.
  • Older adults strongly opposed youth's destructive proposals (e.g., demolishing residential buildings) but responded positively to more moderate proposals like a "virtual reality zoo."

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • Limitations: The critical unmaking approach may lead to emotional discomfort and prolonged disagreements among participants; it may negatively impact vulnerable groups.
  • Future Directions:
    1. Further research on balancing "conflict generation" and "post-conflict reconciliation."
    2. Exploring the broader application potential of critical unmaking in education, urban planning, and community engagement.
    3. Establishing clear emotional and ethical safeguards in future design education/discussions to prevent conflicts from escalating uncontrollably.