Advocating for Participation in Design: about Designers’ and Non-designers’ New Roles and Responsibilities

Witnessing the resurgence of interest for citizen participation in the making of cities, this article questions the roles and the responsibilities of designers and non-designers in participatory design processes. Twelve main themes are considered as key regarding the posture adopted by (non-)designers during participatory and co-design processes, as revealed by in-depth interviews conducted with six Belgian academics and practitioners, all experts of citizen participation. The article highlights the diversity of roles and responsibilities of both actors but especially focuses on the
amplifying role of the designers, who are expected to assume many new responsibilities. Our main contribution is to clarify those roles and responsibilities and thereby pointing all the elements that the participatory stakeholders should take into account when participating, designing participation and advocating for participation.