Systems-Oriented Design as a Democratic Process Design Technique

This paper introduces a discussion about Systems-Oriented Design (SOD) as a democratic design technique. Hence, we have sought how to design processes that enable democratic design processes and possibly design for democracy. We have analysed student praxis and project turn-ins produced at a SOD course Design for Democracy at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) 2016 – 2018.

This analysis led to the description of several techniques as dimensions to understand and facilitate processes for – and to design for democracy. These are field- and desktop research, Rich design space, leverage point analysis, ZIP analysis, systemic evaluation, user journey, understanding relationships, GIGA mapping, digital platforms, SOD as sharing, participatory design, co-creation, discussion tool, stakeholder mapping / expert networks, prompting tools, and strategy or synergy map. These techniques are then discussed against theory on democracy to study their effect in relation to SOD as praxis and SOD as a developing process of strategic services for democracy.

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