<p>In 1996, the artillery regiment, A4, in Östersund was disbanded. Their former premises underwent remodelling to serve as the new campus for the Mid Sweden University. The express intention was that the new occupiers would be allowed to take part in the planning process. During 1997 the company Vasallen became the owner of the premises, by direction of the Ministry of Finance. Vasallen was charged with the management of former military premises and increasing their value with the aim of selling the property.</p><p>Thanks to their well-defined mission and good financial resources, Vasallen became a new actor on the property market. In the same year, a number of architectural firms were invited to take part in a competition. At the beginning of 1998, SWECO FFNS was chosen as the winner, and the planning process started immediately. The new campus was inaugurated on September 6, 2002 with the Swedish Prime Minister, Göran Persson, in attendance.</p><p>The aim of this study was to monitor how well the demands of the new occupiers regarding quality and environment were met, and how these demands were managed during the construction process. My ambition was to study the process as a case study in order to better understand and reflect on what actually happens in the communication between partners. The material on which the study is based was gathered by participation in planning meetings and by following the construction process. The Campus Östersund project was unique in many ways. In the first place, the existing buildings form a sound basis as they were intentionally designed with the needs and well-being of the individual in mind. Many qualities were thus already incorporated into the buildings on the site.</p><p>The strict regulations imposed by the fact that these were classed as historical buildings set certain limitations, while at the same time posing a challenge to be overcome. The stark contrast between a military regiment and the activities of a modern university placed high demands on those involved in the project. The user’s wishes and demands, working environment factors, structural issues and demands on comfort always have a tendency to take second place after financial factors. In this case, however, the owner’s and user’s joint ambition led to the reconsideration of priorities concerning, for example, the working environment. Finally, the project was unique as a fully comprehensive view of the process and final product was adopted by the two main partners. This includes, for example, observing environmental assets throughout the whole project.</p><p>In 1996, the artillery regiment, A4, in Östersund was disbanded. Their former premises underwent remodelling to serve as the new campus for the Mid Sweden University. The express intention was that the new occupiers would be allowed to take part in the planning process. During 1997 the company Vasallen became the owner of the premises, by direction of the Ministry of Finance. Vasallen was charged with the management of former military premises and increasing their value with the aim of selling the property.</p><p>Thanks to their well-defined mission and good financial resources, Vasallen became a new actor on the property market. In the same year, a number of architectural firms were invited to take part in a competition. At the beginning of 1998, SWECO FFNS was chosen as the winner, and the planning process started immediately. The new campus was inaugurated on September 6, 2002 with the Swedish Prime Minister, Göran Persson, in attendance.</p><p>The aim of this study was to monitor how well the demands of the new occupiers regarding quality and environment were met, and how these demands were managed during the construction process. My ambition was to study the process as a case study in order to better understand and reflect on what actually happens in the communication between partners. The material on which the study is based was gathered by participation in planning meetings and by following the construction process. The Campus Östersund project was unique in many ways. In the first place, the existing buildings form a sound basis as they were intentionally designed with the needs and well-being of the individual in mind. Many qualities were thus already incorporated into the buildings on the site.</p><p>The strict regulations imposed by the fact that these were classed as historical buildings set certain limitations, while at the same time posing a challenge to be overcome. The stark contrast between a military regiment and the activities of a modern university placed high demands on those involved in the project. The user’s wishes and demands, working environment factors, structural issues and demands on comfort always have a tendency to take second place after financial factors. In this case, however, the owner’s and user’s joint ambition led to the reconsideration of priorities concerning, for example, the working environment. Finally, the project was unique as a fully comprehensive view of the process and final product was adopted by the two main partners. This includes, for example, observing environmental assets throughout the whole project.</p><p>Brukarmedverkan i byggprocessen –en fallstudie 12</p><p>Building the “right product” is an important argument for including the end user in the project. By initiating a planning process in which the user’s demands and wishes are considered, one not only initiates the actual building process, but also a process in the client’s organisation. The capacity to participate in such a process within the organisation is, however, not always good. Clarity and respect for the processes initiated were not always particularly pronounced in this case. Lack of clarity sometimes led to confusion, which in turn led to complications in communication and thus delay in the project. The internal process in an organisation should, if possible, progress simultaneously with, and be firmly established before, meetings with the consultants. Theoretical studies have confirmed the importance of utilizing the process of change in internal organisational development in order to achieve a positive attitude among employees.</p><p>Participation of the end user in a large organisation is often based on representatives in working parties. These representatives should be motivated, be given the time required within the framework of their job, and have the confidence of their colleagues. The opportunity to influence decisions is great in the initial stages. The user should have knowledge concerning the various phases of construction, the financial and legal framework, and the rules and regulations governing the project. Being able to participate in creating one’s own working environment elicits various degrees of commitment and levels of expectation in the user organisation. Both the occupants and the consultants should have the capacity for this kind of development, especially the latter as they constitute the “front line”. The user should understand the relation between desires and possible financial effects. The price tag for alternative demands/wishes and the effects these will have on the final rent should be clearly visible. It is an advantage if this is made clear very early on in the project. The dialogue between the parties should thus be supplemented by the architect explaining to the new occupiers where limitations and opportunities lie in the project. The parties involved must have a certain degree of pedagogical competence in order to explain and manage the project to everyone’s satisfaction. A good environment is seldom described in terms of formulated concepts outside the architectural community. Projects in which the end user is involved thus provide a unique opportunity to start building up a bank of knowledge including expressions used by non-experts to describe concepts of space. Difficulties are encountered when all these views are to be accepted and implemented in the building process through descriptions and drawings. Words are replaced by numbers, and more and more actors are involved, for example, engineering consultants. We simply do not have all the necessary tools with which to express wishes concerning the physical environment. We can, however, bridge the communication gap between users and consultants by using computer-aided information systems. The ideas expressed by the user can be transformed into three-dimensional video sequences, and thus be confirmed as being, “just what we meant”.</p><p>It was apparent quite early on in this research that the technical terms available were not adequate to describe the events of this case. The end user’s feeling of not being able to keep up with the consultants’ technical concepts may lead them to feel that they are at a disadvantage, which certainly will not benefit the process. Here, the role of the architect as a pedagogue is important in leading the various participants into the planning process. One of the actors should perhaps have some kind of skills in behavioural science and Brukarmedverkan i byggprocessen –en fallstudie education. Perhaps changes should be made in the training of architects and other consultants.</p><p>Respect for the common process is perhaps the most important factor for its success, together with clarity and openness. These are terms not traditionally used in construction projects. The interpretation of the customer’s wishes, explaining the opportunities and limitations of the building, and planning for future expansion are the responsibility of the architect. Does a single actor have a reasonable chance of coping with this in a large-scale project? All the participants should gain broad insight into each other’s jobs and roles early on in the project. Respect for the responsibilities and roles of others can be built up by concentrated efforts to exchange knowledge through dialogue early in the process. The incentive for participating varies from one actor to another. Theoretical studies, for example, give clear advice that each actor’s interests in the project be clarified. Trust is one of the most important mainstays in establishing good communication. Feelings of suspicion and unreliability can be disastrous in this kind of project. The development of legal issues and forms concerning contractors and their work is also desirable in order to aid the process.</p><p>When the owner sees the opportunity to take an active part in the management of the premises, this leads to a continuous dialogue and process during and after the planning and construction phases. These studies have given me a greater respect for processes involving the end user, from planning to management. One of my most important personal  reflections, and a partly new realisation, is that the involvement of the user in the process has such a large influence on the building project. Communication and continuous information are essential in projects in which the user is involved.</p><p>Communication can also be made easier if the parties regard each other as fellow partners and not opposing partners. The period spent in education and training is the most important in laying the foundation for these attitudes among professionals. A great deal of responsibility thus lies with teachers to ensure that end users have increased opportunity to participate in and influence the building process. There is no short cut to customer-focused working methods.</p>

This thesis critically reflects on co-operative design workshops that I have conducted. The basic method used in these workshops draws on the participants’ embodied knowing. In the over twenty workshops that are analysed here a wide range of participants have been involved: family members, employees, persons with disabilities, and other stakeholders like manufacturers, service providers and civil servants. The topics have varied, but they have mostly been related to ICT products and services. Most of the workshops were conducted within various research projects. In order to analyse this diverse range of workshops I use several different theories and concepts. I articulate and analyse the design aspects of the activities by using established design theories and concepts. The conceptual tool design space, meaning all possible design proposals, is used for understanding the design process. I also use theories from other fields in order to analyse three different aspects of the workshops: the participants’ activities, the designers’ responsibility, and the process. To analyse the way that the participants co-operatively create knowledge, theories of interpersonal actions are used; to analyse the work done by the designer/conductor, theories of frames are used; and to analyse the process, the theory of actualisation and realisation is used. During the workshops the participants co-operatively make scenarios, props and video prototypes in order to create proposals for desired interactions with future artefacts. Contributions include accounts of critical situations during the workshops and suggested strategies for dealing with them. Some implications are relevant to the design field in general, for example the importance of a process where the participants trust each other, learn from each other and work effectively with difficult issues by creating multiple proposals that facilitate understanding of the design space. I also offer arguments about why it is better to see activities, props and prototypes as mainly constitutive rather than as only representative. Video prototypes on DVD and seven publications are included in the thesis.

Mitt examensarbete från Designprogrammet − hållbar utveckling, är en under- sökning av flera dimensioner. Det övergripande arbetet är ett platsspecifikt insamlande av framtida visioner hos invånare, kommun och kreatör. Visualiseringen involverar samtliga av de ovan nämnda parterna i skapandet av en ny mötes- plats i ett medialt kategoriserat miljonprogramsområde. Med denna vilja följer en diskussion om, hur och/eller på vilket sätt detta arbete knyter an till design och vilken roll jag iklätt den. Designlösningen är i sin tur en identitet och ett koncept till uppstarten av en existerande vision om Zero Waste Lab − ett hållbar center i Alby, norra Botkyrka. Konceptet går under namnet Pop-up park och syftar till att inbjuda medborgare och aktörer att ta del i byggandet av visionen.

Detta är en undersökning kring sätt att arbeta involverande med barn. Inom en del av designfältet håller ett nytt förhållningssätt på att växa fram. Det är en designpraktik som utgår från brukarens position och som involverar brukaren som en fullvärdig deltagare i designprocessen redan från början. Området tillhör en engelskspråkig diskurs och benämns än så länge med sitt engelska namn: participatory design. Undersökningen utgår från frågeställningen Hur kan man, med utgångspunkt i teorier om participatory design, forma arbetssätt för att involvera barn i designprojekt som rör deras närmiljö? Och vidare, genom den frågeställningen kommer undersökningen även att närma sig frågan: Hur beskriver barnen på Jordbro parklek sin närmiljö ur ett designperspektiv? Informanterna i undersökningen är barn som alla är bosatta i Jordbro som är en förort till Stockholm. Området är till stor del byggt under de så kallade miljonprogramsåren. Jordbro parklek är en öppen fritidsverksamhet belägen i centrala Jordbro. Undersökningen tog plats på parkleken under tre veckor hösten 2009. Bostadsområdet och närmiljön är själva ramen för barns och ungdomars uppväxtvillkor, och barn har i jämförelse med vuxna långt mer begränsade möjligheter att förflytta sig utanför den miljön. Undersökningen diskuterar design och närmiljö med barn, vilket är av vikt eftersom barn genom att formulera sina uppfattningar, sina behov och önskemål ger uttryck för ett annat perspektiv än det de vuxna vanligtvis har. Det är tydligt att metoder att arbeta involverande med barn behöver utvecklas, der räcker inte med de elevråd och liknande organ som finns idag. Undersökningen på parkleken syftar till att inom designfältet vara ett led i det arbetet. Participatory design fokuserar oftast på vuxna aktörer, och behöver utformas på ett annat sätt för att på ett meningsfullt sätt kunna fungera i sammanhang där barn är deltagare. Undersökningen korsar fältena participatory design, etnografi samt designpedagogik. Ur en förståelse för barn och deras perspektiv som är möjlig att skapa genom etnografiska studier kan man med kunskaper om pedagogik och lärande utveckla metoder som hjälper barn att formulera och uttrycka upplevelser och önskemål. När barnen lyckats med detta kan de på ett meningsfullt sätt delta i designprocesser där de tillsammans med designer och designpedagoger kan medverka i samarbete.

Not in every case, the designer is knowledgeable about the potential user. Users can be consulted, in order to obtain knowledge, which is required for the design process. However such a consultation process can be problematic, since users may have difficulty in expressing their needs and problems or they may not be aware of them. The study is devised originating from the idea that if appropriate tools are provided for users, they can express their needs and design related problems. The thesis involves a literature review on the necessity of user knowledge as an input for the design process, and methods, techniques and tools, which provide this knowledge. Based on the findings from the literature review, three fictional case studies were planned and performed by employing two techniques, namely mood boards and drawing and shaping ideal products. These two techniques are developed into a procedure step by step by carrying out the case studies. The thesis proposes guidelines for the procedure of &ldquo / user workshops&rdquo / as a way to elicit users&rsquo / tangible and intangible needs, and user defined problems by directing them to imagine and express a usage context and conceptualize solutions considering their design related problems through a concept development activity and additional creative activities.

<p>De problem som följer den traditionella systemutvecklingen är att det är många informationssystem som inte blir implementerade eller använda på grund av att användarna inte accepterat det nya informationssystemet, likaså är ofta projekten överbudgeterade och tidsöverskridande. En av orsakerna till detta är att användarna inte deltar aktivt under utvecklingsprocessen, vilket gör att systemutvecklarna inte får all den information de behöver för att utveckla ett informationssystem som motsvarar förväntningarna.</p><p>I detta examensarbete undersöks om tillvägagångssättet participatory design (PD), som innebär att användaren aktivt deltar i hela utvecklingsprocessen, går att integrera med den traditionella systemutvecklingsansatsen, där utvecklingen sker med användarna som stöd till systemutvecklarna.</p><p>Integrationen har gjorts genom att dels byta ut tekniker i systemutvecklingsmetoden SSADM och dels genom att kombinera SSADMs tekniker med PD-tekniker. Detta resultat har används tillsammans med intervjuer för att avgöra om PD-tekniker kan användas i alla traditionella systemutvecklingsmetoder. Resultatet av integrationen visar att det är möjligt att integrera PD-tekniker med den traditionella systemutvecklingsansatsen.</p>

The aim of the thesis is twofold. First, a need is exposed for adopting a situated design perspective in designing computer-based tools that support knowledge work. Second, an examination is made of what this perspective may reveal concerning the nature of processes and relations within the design situation. This is done to understand better what it means for users and developers, as well as other stakeholders, to approach and capture the tacit knowing within the work context. The argument for adopting a situated design perspective is based on experience drawn from development projects, as well as literature reviews. In these projects, the design situations encountered are best characterized as explorative and iteratively interpreted. Here, approaching and understanding the work context, together with the users, has at best been a pursuit of the vision of the future system guided by local circumstances, and where the users had difficulties in expressing and understanding what it is they want and how they want it. This implies that formal engineering methods, where the development work is reduced to an engineering endeavor based on a rationalistic perspective, are not sufficient. The situated design perspective is presented in this thesis as a conceptual model of the design practice, highlighting its constituent worlds, processes, and relations. The model depicts designing as an explorative and sense-making process, navigating between what is wanted or envisioned and what may be negotiated and discovered. It emphasizes the importance of the artifact being designed as a means to capture, communicate, and discover what is possible in the work context. The model makes clear that the design process is highly situated, and that it cannot take place outside the work context because of interdependent relationships. It is designing within the living work context, not design for an objectified one. Thus, it cannot be planned as a pure engineering endeavor, but needs to be viewed as a situated practice.

Since the use of computers and IT systems has become an essential part of many people’s daily work, the quality of IT systems’ is becoming more important for efficient, healthy and sustainable work. It has often been argued that the full potential of a new, supportive IT system seldom is achieved, because – despite implementation of the new system - outdated work procedures are still being preserved. We can also see an increase in occupational health problems that are related to the use of poorly designed IT systems. This thesis addresses the questions of how to create a process for developing a sustainable, IT- supported work for the future and how to provide a solid foundation for the development of IT systems. What underlying perspectives should be applied and how can such a process be carried out in practice? Utilizing an action research approach inspired by participatory design methods, a user-centred seminar process called the Vision Seminar Process (VSP) has been developed to address these questions. Observations are presented from three cases in which the VSP has contributed to the organizations’ development and during which the Vision Seminar Process itself continued to evolve. The process provides a framework where practitioners and designers cooperate in the design of both sustainable work and usable IT systems. It is of central importance that a reflective in-depth analysis of users’ work practices is carried out, that their entire work situation and organization is questioned and discussed, and that the design process is carried out with a focus on healthy and sustainable work. Underlying perspectives that advocate a focus on a future work are essential for the successful implementation of the process, in that IT should be the engine that drives the development of work and creates the conditions for a healthy, sustainable work.

Entering the informal domain may be considered contrary to a formal understanding of architecture yet it is within this context that many architectural strategies are being resolved. Unbound by law and tradition, informal settlements allow for creative solutions that would otherwise not be explored. Such unconventional solutions speak to the discourse of architecture and planning, challenging ideas of public space and private ownership. The goal of this thesis is to investigate how public space is achieved in established informal houseboat communities using off-grid systems and salvaged material. An investigation of the houseboat community in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and the Narrow boats in London, England are case studies in this process. This thesis seeks to identify how the city of West Kelowna, the Westbank First Nation and the Central Okanagan Regional District of British Columbia can be agents of an informal intervention on the Okanagan Lake in British Columbia.

Grassroots urban agriculture projects are highly interactive spaces, allowing people from different socio-cultural and economic backgrounds to learn, play and work together. They offer unconventional urban greenspace and recreational opportunities and contribute to urbanites’ understanding of how food is grown. Landscape architects can contribute numerous professional strengths to the design of these food-oriented landscapes. Case study research at Hackney City Farm, UK, and Prinzessinnengarten, Germany, illustrates that grassroots projects could benefit from a strong spatial design and increased layering of on-site uses in order to serve a greater cross-section of the community than at present. This research culminates in the design of a multifunctional food-oriented landscape at Brant Avenue Public School, Guelph, and is shaped by the case study findings and literature on participatory design and facilitation. The research demonstrates how landscape architects can work with community groups to provide a high diversity of on-site uses and user experience.