Care and Repair through Intimacy: A Live Lab Approach inthe Garden City

Abstract

Participatory Design (PD) is increasingly interested in a repair process, motivated by the curiosity to articulate a more caring and relational attitude toward our socio-ecological environment. However, placing "repair" centrally in PD is difficult since it has been traditionally focused on "making together" and less on repairing what was once made or even "unmake." While repair is part of our continuous activities (repairing clothes, bikes, marriages, and relationships), it is often a painful and challenging endeavor. Repair entails hope but also grief. This article discusses how we used a Live Lab to explore more intimate design approaches, opening pathways to explore plural relations and access embodied and emotional knowledge. Finally, based on our research experience in a garden city, we will reflect upon how acting within an intimacy framework contributes to PD's repair process in bringing socio-ecological entanglements to the agenda of citizens.