Social robots increasingly interact with humans in diverse contexts. In this study, a systematic framework is proposed for selecting stakeholders based on the user requirements in participatory design of social robots. Matching social robot design dimensions with stakeholder fields in the framework, is achieved using Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Design Structure Matrix (DSM) methodologies. A case study is presented to demonstrate utilization of the framework. The contribution of this paper is to develop an infrastructure towards formalization of participatory design of social robots.

Design is transitioning modalities, from participation to deep engagement, creating active citizen(s). Authors define, communicate, and navigate post-participatory sustainable design, (interviewing 50+ project leaders), catalysing sustainable activities. Engaging Design, enables creative individuals, communities & collective action(s) to craft/design synergies: motivated by mutual respect, designing ‘with’ not for, shifts understandings’ of public engagement, transcending disciplines, providing sustainable value. Analysis and insights, yield recipes to cultivate sustainable active citizen(s).

Traditional design methods fall short for complex socio-technical systems where social and technical elements co-evolve and emergent behaviors resist decomposition. This paper proposes a seven-stage Design for Complexity Framework integrating systems science and design theory. Stages 3–6 form an iterative co-evolution space where modeling, architecture, and stakeholder co-design mutually shape problem and solution development. A healthcare example illustrates how the framework’s co-evolutionary approach addresses coordination failures that purely technical or purely participatory methods miss.

This study examines how residents perceive and negotiate flexibility in their residential spaces across various life stages through a participatory workshop involving 80 participants. Using modular blocks, participants reconfigured layouts for scenarios such as shared living, marriage, family growth, work, and ageing. Visual and thematic analyses revealed flexibility priorities, trade-offs, and transformation patterns discussed, showing it peaks in early and mid-life and centres on bedrooms and workspaces as a temporal, user-defined phenomenon of adaptable housing.

Large infrastructure projects often face misalignments that Delays outcomes. This paper presents a co-design workshop addressing such challenges in a European railway project. Guided by complexity theory, the workshop enabled participants to reflect and co-create strategies for alignment. Pre/post surveys and facilitator observations show increased confidence and engagement, with notable awareness in addressing misalignments. These findings highlight co-design’s value as an adaptive, participatory approach for creating recognition and managing complexity in interorganizational projects.

Climate instability and socio-ecological inequality demand design methodologies that integrate material, biological and cultural systems. While Regenerative, Participatory and biodesign have expanded the scope of design practice, they often lack approaches for integrating material development within culturally situated contexts. This paper introduces Material Re-Mixing, a novel biodesign methodology grounded in place- and culture-based material investigation, biological integration and participatory co-creation. The methodology is developed through a case study in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, focusing on bio-composite innovation for traditional wool felt gers. Combining textile testing, biomaterial experimentation, ethnographic research and stakeholder workshops, the case study demonstrates how mycelium-based composites can enhance performance while maintaining cultural continuity and how culturally grounded material investigation and innovation can catalyse systemic healing at the community level. Material Re-Mixing contributes a transferable system that foregrounds material agency, cultural knowledge and circular biological processes, offering a pathway towards more situated approaches to ‘wicked’ socio-ecological challenges (Rittel H and Webber M (1973) Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences (4), 155–169.).

Digital transmission of traditional cultural heritage faces challenges of insufficient user engagement and superficial dissemination. Using the Cizhou kiln as a case study, this research proposes the “Creation-as-Transmission” design paradigm, which transcends traditional unidirectional display models by transforming users from cultural consumers to cultural co-creators. This paradigm systematically integrates situated cognition theory and co-creation theory, achieving deep cultural learning and socialized transmission through AI collaborative creation. Empirical studies (N = 200) demonstrate that compared to traditional methods, this paradigm significantly enhances cultural cognition (74% improvement) and the proportion of spontaneous sharing on social media (82.6% sharing rate). More importantly, this research provides the first quantification of causal mechanisms between creative behaviors and cultural cognition, establishing a predictive model explaining 73.1% of cognitive variance and offering mechanistic evidence for situated learning theory’s application in cultural heritage transmission. The research contributions have threefold value: theoretically, it expands HCI understanding of the relationship between “design behaviors and cognitive effects”; methodologically, it provides a transferable implementation framework for other intangible cultural heritage; practically, it opens new pathways for digital technologies to promote sustainable cultural transmission.

The advent of complex socio-technical systems in modern society calls for teaching value-based participatory design in engineering curricula. Yet, no scientific literature supports teachers in this effort. This paper introduces a teaching approach called “value-based participatory design of complex socio-technical systems” and reports on its implementation. It emphasizes the importance of actively involving stakeholders and tapping into their values from the very start of the design process. Following this approach, students learn to (1) design with stakeholders, (2) identify key values and conflicts to create a value-based mission statement, (3) navigate uncertainties, (4) adopt an iterative design process, and (5) recognize that only stakeholders can define what works best. Results of an academic course based on this approach confirm its value and importance for engineering curricula.

Designing healthcare interventions for children with complex health needs often overlooks the perspectives of key stakeholders, including children. Collaborative design is essential for creating solutions that integrate diverse viewpoints and bridge communication gaps. However, prior studies lack tools to align stakeholder perspectives in pediatric care. This study introduces Octo, an educational toy, as a boundary object to enhance communication among children aged 4 to 10 with congenital heart disease (CHD), their parents, and healthcare providers. Octo evolves from a prototype to a functional educational tool, fostering engagement through play while promoting health literacy and stakeholder collaboration. This research through design (RtD) demonstrates the effectiveness of boundary objects in advancing inclusive, child-led interventions and collaborative healthcare design.

This study explores the influence of perceived similarity on pro-environmental behavior, focusing on plastic reduction. Participants’ daily plastic use and reduction were tracked over 30 days via online chat software, with controlled nudges from an agent. Each group included two examinees and one agent. Behavioral data were analyzed to evaluate predictability from various perspectives and its relationship with behavioral change. Results showed significant differences in predictability based on perceived similarity, particularly during the first 10 days. Furthermore, nudges, consumption levels, and behavioral changes significantly affected predictability within the first 20 days. These findings contribute to understanding how perceived similarity can enhance nudging strategies to promote sustainable behavior and reduce plastic consumption.

The humanitarian sector requires innovation to enhance emergency response efficiency and effectiveness. This paper examines the sector’s unique challenges, including complex emergencies, specialized products, diverse actors, and barriers to innovation. To address these, UNHRD has revamped its approach, blending accelerator initiatives with design-driven activities via its Innovation Lab. A task force of academics and experts is developing a tailored workflow integrating product design and business process management to improve decision-making. Efforts like market scouting, innovation contests, and in-house R&D aim to overcome current limitations, fostering collaboration among stakeholders. This approach offers a more adaptive and inclusive innovation ecosystem.

Designer and user have different perspectives on a product. This can lead to differences in their evaluation and classification in usage situations. Not least, products are evaluated from different backgrounds of experience. Communication between user and designer therefore appears to be crucial to support this mutual process of understanding. Prototyping is a widely used and recognised tool in development. The use of these as non-verbal instruments in communication, however, poses specific challenges for the designer, since ambiguities in interpretation are also possible here. The aim of this paper is therefore to develop a model that describes the communication between developer and user via prototypes to identify factors influencing the communication-process. Based on this communication model, initial implications for the design of prototypes will be derived

Participatory Design – an iterative, flexible design process that closely involves stakeholders, often end users – is growing in use across design disciplines. As more practitioners use Participatory Design (PD), it has become less rigidly defined, with stakeholders engaged to varying degrees through disjointed techniques. This ambiguity can be counterproductive when discussing PD processes. We performed a systematic literature review that builds shared, foundational knowledge of PD processes and techniques while also summarizing the state of PD research in the field, as a first step in supporting richer understandings of how best to equitably engage with stakeholders. We found that a majority of PD literature examined specific case studies of PD, with the design of intangible systems representing the most common design context. Stakeholders most often participated throughout multiple stages of a design process, recruited in a variety of ways, and engaged in several of the 14 specific participatory techniques identified. Our findings also identify leverage points for creators of PD processes and how the leverage points impact design equity, including: (1) emergent versus predetermined processes; (2) direct versus indirect participation; (3) early versus late participation; (4) one time versus iterative participation; and (5) singular versus multiple PD techniques.

In the literature, there are polarized views regarding the capabilities of technology to embed societal values. One aisle of the debate contends that technical artifacts are value-neutral since values are not peculiar to inanimate objects. Scholars on the other side of the aisle argue that technologies tend to be value-laden. With the call to embed ethical values in technology, this article explores how AI and other adjacent technologies are designed and developed to foster social justice. Drawing insights from prior studies, this paper identifies seven African moral values considered central to actualizing social justice; of these, two stand out—respect for diversity and ethnic neutrality. By introducing use case analysis along with the Discovery, Translation, and Verification (DTV) framework and validating via Focus Group Discussion, this study revealed novel findings: first, ethical value analysis is best carried out alongside software system analysis. Second, to embed ethics in technology, interdisciplinary expertise is required. Third, the DTV approach combined with the software engineering methodology provides a promising way to embed moral values in technology. Against this backdrop, the two highlighted ethical values—respect for diversity and ethnic neutrality—help ground the pursuit of social justice.

This paper presents a collaborative solution developed to enable people without prior Internet of Things (IoT) knowledge to ideate, conceptualise, role-play and prototype potential improvements to their work processes and environments. The solution, called the Karakuri IoT toolkit and method, was tested in two workshops with eight production leaders at a Swedish manufacturing company. Outcomes were analysed from the perspectives of materials interaction and instruments of inquiry. Results indicate the solution can help people conceive and prototype improvement ideas at early design stages.