When and Where Is Participatory Design Done?

Where the previous chapters outlined the main principles of Participatory Design (Chapter 2) and their history (Chapter 3), this chapter addresses the question of where and when Participatory De-sign is used. There is no algorithm to determine whether or not Participatory Design is applicable in a given situation or in response to a given design problem. As an approach to design, Participatory Design can be applied to any design situation, at least in principle. However, Participatory Design shapes the way design is performed and the way in which the problem is addressed. In this chapter we will provide five examples of arenas in which considerable amounts of Participatory Design work has been done. This is not to suggest that these arenas and problems are particularly amenable to Participatory Design, but to demonstrate how Participatory Design can look when it plays out in different kinds of domains and contexts.