Care-full co-curation: critical urban placemaking for more-than-human futures

Abstract

Can participatory engagements in the form of more-than-human co-creation be a generative form of socially and ecologically-just and critical urban placemaking? In recent years, there has been growing interest across sectors in bringing together diverse needs, desires, and experiences through co-creative processes that foster transformative futures, which involve caring with, and for, specific stakeholders. However, institutionalised and increasingly formulaic approaches to care and participation raise questions of who exactly is being included and excluded, how co-creation is carried out, and to what ends. This article explores three interrelated examples of critical urban placemaking in the arts, interrogating how we might design for liveable urban futures as matters of care. We propose that this is achievable through the critical conceptual lens of ‘care-full co-curation' which prioritises the vital co-existence of all beings, and designs with and alongside the needs and lived experiences of human and other-than-human actors and agencies alike.

Keywords:

• care
• curation
• design
• citymaking
• co-creation
• urban futures

Acknowledgements

Jaz would like to acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation, where sovereignty has never been ceded, and where Jaz carried out much of the work presented in this paper as an uninvited guest. Jaz is deeply grateful for their protecting its ecosystems since time immemorial, and their generous hospitality.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Defined expansively as urban planning, architecture, systems design, strategic design, graphic design, product and industrial design, interaction design, experience design, service design, biodesign, game design, civic design, and fashion design as well as many other fields and disciplines.

2 See https://www.pacegallery.com/journal/maya-lin-create-new-installation-madison-square-park/. Accessed on June 16, 2022.

3 https://madisonsquarepark.org/park/about-the-park/.

4 https://www.whatismissing.org/about.

5 See https://paolocirio.net/work/street-ghosts/. Accessed on June 15, 2022.

6 See http://borderbumping.net. Accessed on June 15, 2022.

7 See http://serendipitor.net/site/?page_id=2. Accessed on June 15, 2022.

8 See https://aisforanother.net. Accessed on June 15, 2022.

9 See https://deweyhagborg.com/projects/stranger-visions. Accessed on June 15, 2022.

10 See https://www.stephaniedinkins.com/secretgarden.html. Accessed on June 15, 2022.

11 See https://aib.si.edu/futures_nettricegaskins/. Accessed on June 15, 2022.

12 See https://cmoa.org/event/algorithms-social-spaces/. Accessed on June 15, 2022.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jaz Hee-jeong Choi

Jaz Hee-jeong Choi is the Director of the Care-full Design Lab and Associate Professor in School of Design, College of Design and Social Context, RMIT. Email: 
[email protected]

Kit Braybrooke

Kit Braybrooke is Senior Researcher at Habitat Unit, Technische Universität Berlin and Director of Studio We & Us. Email: [email protected]

Laura Forlano

Laura Forlano is Associate Professor at the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology. Email: [email protected]