igorbu
Department of Design, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
I am an Interaction Designer with a research interest in Participatory Speculative Design on topics related to eco-social justice and decolonial feminist research ethics. I'm currently working as a PhD Candidate at the Department of Design, NTNU on a project looking into methods for opening possibilities for collectively imagined futures for energy transitions through the lens of letting go.
Session
Background: Participant’s trust is fundamental to the success of participatory processes (Armstrong et al., 2023; Mintrom et al., 2024), where facilitators bear significant power and responsibility for nurturing spaces of trust (Brazzell, 2020). Trust, in turn, is closely tied to the ways in which facilitators balance how expert input is permitted to frame activities, and how decision-makers then account for tending to the meaning of participant expressions (Farias et al., 2022; Law, 2004). Our workshop aims to respond to this tension by inviting fellow participants to engage with an inventive co-creation method to develop a manifesto for trust nurturing when citizens are invited to take part in collaborative processes. The guiding intention is for us to reflect on how participants experience the meaning of their ideas and expressions being affected when experts enter the process. Which might happen, for example, by expert stances influencing people’s expressions before the workshop or when these are reinterpreted afterwards in expert panels.
Workshop Theme: How can expert participation be designed in participatory processes in a way that nurtures trust?
Goals: This workshop will facilitate:
- Reflections on how participants’ expressions are created and shaped in participatory processes and how that relates to trust;
- Identification of key moments where trust is strengthened or weakened;
- Development of practical principles for designing processes that nurture trust (in smaller groups);
- Co-creation of a “Manifesto for Trust in Participatory Processes”.
Methods:
This workshop employs a participatory method combining embodied exploration, reflective dialogue, and collective synthesis. The design is structured to enable participants to both experience and critically reflect on how trust is shaped, negotiated, and potentially undermined in participatory processes – particularly in relation to expert intervention and the translation of participants’ expressions.
It begins with a creative “Clay of Trust” activity exploring trust through clay modelling. Participants first model expressions of “trust,” then exchange and alter each other’s creations without explanation, simulating external intervention into personal expressions. This activity is designed to surface embodied experiences of ownership, interpretation, and change. It aims to open a discussion space through tangible infringement of people’s expressions. Two separate groups will work with different framings, highlighting the significance of input in shaping expressions. A plenary reflection follows, where participants will share responses to creating and modifying the clay. Facilitators will link these experiences to participatory processes, emphasizing how contributions are translated through reframing, analysis, and interpretation.
Participants will then engage in group (4-5 people/group) discussions, guided by visual input and questions on how participants’ expressions are created and shaped in participatory processes (e.g., by expert input and “translation processes”), how facilitators influence these processes, and how they weaken or nurture trust. Based on the discussion, each group will formulate concrete guidelines/principles for nurturing trust in designing participatory processes.
For the conclusion, these principles will be shared and collectively synthesized into a “manifesto” outlining principles for designing participatory processes that nurture participants’ trust. The written-up manifesto could potentially be shared with all participants of the symposium.