Recollecting with Collectives towards Coexistence: A Theoretical Framework for Participatory Design in Times of Climate Crises

Abstract

This paper explores a theoretical framework called “recollecting” for Participatory Design (PD) with collectives to support coexistence in times of uncertainty and polarisation around climate crises. It offers a PD concept and design approach that engages with the memories of hybrid collectives of humans and more-than-human actors within transitions of their built and natural environment, foregrounding collective memory as a political and relational process, central to shaping regenerative futures. In contrast to dominant strategies for dealing with climate challenges that emphasise technical solutions and material flows, we argue that meaningful transitions require practices of remembering - ritualised, situated, and affective - embedded in local ecologies and histories. We examine three case studies across Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden where PD researchers collaborated with local governments and communities to reimagine relations among people, places, and more-thanhuman actors. Through these cases, we identify three interwoven dimensions of recollecting: “orienting” towards attachments and past relations, “actualising” memory to shift power dynamics, and “archiving” as co-creating dynamic repositories of collective memory that enable continuity, reflection and action across time and actors. Our findings suggest that recollecting can support transitions not only by regenerating ecosystems, but also by reshuffling social and ecological inequalities. Ultimately, we argue that designing with collectives offers pathways toward addressing regenerative futures grounded in recognition, care and solidarity.