Activating Social Connection through co-design

My PhD research explores how co-design fosters social connection by examining the relational aspects of participatory design projects. While co-design is widely recognised for creating more equitable, grounded, and fit-for-purpose responses by involving people with lived experience, its relational benefits—how it builds trust, reciprocity, and deeper social ties—are often overlooked or considered secondary. This study challenges that perspective, arguing that strong social connection is not just a by-product of co-design but should be a central goal.

Why This Matters

• Social connection has well-documented social, environmental, economic, and resilience benefits. Connected communities are better equipped to navigate crises, adapt to change, and engage in collective action.

• When relationships and interdependence are deprioritised, communities experience division, fragmentation, and polarisation, making it harder to address complex challenges.

• If co-design is to meaningfully address today’s challenges, it must centre connection—not just to improve partnerships but to hold space for new ways of being together.

Research Aims

This study examines co-design’s role in building social connection, particularly in community development contexts. It seeks to:

1. Understand how co-design fosters social connection from the perspective of design practitioners.

2. Identify ‘designerly’ strategies that enhance relationship-building in co-design.

3. Investigate the enablers and barriers to successful relational outcomes.

4. Examine how participation in co-design differs from other participatory or pro-connection activities.

5. Explore how enabling or disabling project environments impact connection-building.

6. Consider what a relationally reoriented co-design practice could look like.

Theoretical Considerations

While practitioners often observe that co-design processes bring people together, this is typically framed as a side benefit rather than a core outcome. Academic research often focuses on co-design as a tool for designing interventions that foster social connection, rather than examining the relational benefits of participating in the process itself.

Feminist, Indigenous, and decolonial critiques caution that co-design is not inherently relational or liberatory. Without intentionality, it can reproduce dominant cultural norms, reinforcing Western, patriarchal knowledge hierarchies and extractive, non-reciprocal relationships. This research critically examines whether co-design enables or constrains relational ways of being.

Methodology

The research adopts a multi-stage qualitative approach:

1. Case Study Review: Identifying published co-design projects that report positive relational outcomes.

2. Semi-Structured Interviews: 8–20 design practitioners will be interviewed (online or in-person), focusing on:

   • How they define and approach relationship-building in co-design.

   • Strategies they use to foster trust, connection, and reciprocity.

   • Stories of when relationships helped or hindered their projects.

   • Their reflections on how co-design compares to other participatory approaches.

3. Data Analysis:

   • Thematic Analysis to identify common strategies, barriers, and enablers.

   • Narrative Analysis to unpack stories of successful and failed relational dynamics.

Expected Contributions

• Design Practice: Practical insights for practitioners to enhance relational aspects of co-design.

• Academia: Contributing to co-design theory by shifting focus toward relationship-building as a core design outcome.

• Policy & Community Development: Informing governments, NGOs, and community organisations on how to design more participatory, connected, and resilient initiatives.

This research repositions co-design as not just a tool for generating solutions but a space for cultivating new ways of relating, collaborating, and imagining together. By foregrounding relationships, it aims to move beyond individualistic, problem-solving mindsets toward more reciprocal, interconnected ways of working.

For more information or to get involved email me at callanrowe[at]swin.edu.au

Read the explanatory statement here.