Staging Collaborative Design and Innovation

An Action-Oriented Participatory Approach

Edited by Christian Clausen, Professor Emeritus of Staging and Shaping Design and Innovation, Department of Planning, Aalborg University, Denmark, Dominique Vinck, Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, Signe Pedersen, Assistant Professor of Participatory Design and Engineering Design, Department of Planning, Aalborg University and Jens Dorland, Assistant Professor of Technological and Socio-economic Planning, Department of People and Technology, Roskilde University, Denmark

This stimulating book proposes the concept of staging as a tool for planning and facilitating design and innovation activities. Drawing on a predominantly Scandinavian tradition of participatory design research and sociotechnical perspectives from actor–network theory, it discusses how staging can enable co-design, sustainable transitions and social and radical innovation.

'The authors see designing – urban, systems, and engineering – as performance, an occasion for staging negotiation and exchange among all participants in the process. This metaphor nicely accommodates prototypes and material objects as intermediaries which are made, remade and deployed back and center stage. It validates the proactive work of the anthropologist/design researcher in framing, staging and directing the process, leading participants to act out different scenarios and engaging all with an interest in the design task. Unusual for a collection so varied in the objects of design it explores, the authors hold to the central theme; the result is a refreshing production that shows how designing can be made inclusive of the interests of users of all kinds and persuasions.'
– Louis Bucciarelli, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US

‘This book is a significant and original contribution to the field of design and innovation. Drawing on cases from across technology and product development, system transitions, the development of infrastructures and city life and bringing together influences from participatory design with literature from the fields of STS and practice theory, the book offers a coherent framework for conceptualizing actionable approaches to the staging and unfolding of innovation processes, addressing also the complexities inherent in the growing importance of sustainability and co-creation.’
–Thomas Binder, Design School Kolding, Denmark