A critical feminist perspective on participation in do-design for planning practice

Abstract

Despite the increasing prominence of participatory processes as mechanisms for the democratisation of decision-making, they perpetuate systemic power dynamics, inequalities, and exclusions. This article’s critical feminist perspective on co-design processes as a mechanism for participatory planning practice offers new understanding of how different actors’ intersectional positionalities influence their approaches to participation, across at three levels of intersectionality: intracategorical, anticategorical, and intercategorical. The study draws from 26 in-depth interviews with diverse participants in four case studies across Scotland. The findings show disparities persisting in the experience of participation, hinging on intersections of age, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status despite narratives of co-design as an inclusive practice. Additional barriers encountered by women and individuals from underrepresented communities include implications of having a voice, different communication and reasoning styles, and methods of communication across differences. Through raising sensitivity awareness of subtle intersectional barriers, this article highlights the need for deliberate strategies to realise both the inclusion of diverse voices and acknowledging the diversity of intersectional positionalities embedded in participatory processes to enable transformative participation. This article advances a critical feminist perspective by revealing the ways in which co-design is challenged as a mechanism to promote inclusive planning practice.