Introduction
Participatory design and co-design activities do not take place in a vacuum. They unfold within meeting rooms, offices, communities, digital platforms, institutions, and infrastructures that shape who participates, how participation takes place, and what becomes possible. While these conditions often influence participatory processes in important ways, they can be difficult to identify, discuss, and reflect upon in practice.
We invite participants to collectively examine the conditions shaping participation across diverse contexts. Drawing on perspectives from Participatory Design (PD), situated action, and place, we will explore what becomes visible, what remains hidden, what appears configurable or constrained, and what proves difficult to discuss when reflecting on participatory settings.
Goals and Activities
The workshop supports collaborative reflection on the settings and conditions that shape participatory processes. Through participant presentations, collaborative analysis, small-group discussions, and collective synthesis, participants will examine how participation is configured within different contexts and explore recurring tensions, challenges, and possibilities across cases.
Participants will work together to reflect on how social, material, organisational, and technological conditions influence participation in practice. The workshop is designed as an exploratory and reflective space that brings together diverse experiences, methods, and perspectives to better understand how participation is organised, negotiated, experienced, and sustained.
We welcome participants with experience in PD, co-design, service design, CSCW, civic technology, public sector innovation, health, education, sustainability, AI, and related fields. Prior expertise in place theory or PD is not required. We particularly encourage participation from people working across different domains, methods, and empirical settings.
Participation
Participants are invited to apply by submitting an extended abstract (2–4 pages) describing either:
- A participatory design, co-design, or related case that raises questions, challenges, tensions, or reflections relevant to the workshop theme; or
- A theoretical, methodological, or position paper that explores concepts, assumptions, or perspectives related to participation, place, and participatory practice.
Contributions may be based on completed projects, ongoing work, speculative cases, methodological reflections, or theoretical arguments. Alternative formats (e.g., pictorials, visual summaries, or other visual representations) are also welcome, provided they clearly communicate the contribution and its relevance to the workshop.
Submissions should briefly address:
- The case, argument, or theoretical perspective and its context
- Who was involved (where applicable) and whose perspectives are represented
- The participatory activities, processes, concepts, or ideas under consideration
- Challenges, tensions, surprises, open questions, or critical reflections that emerged
- Motivation for attending the workshop
- How the contribution relates to the workshop theme
Examples of relevant contributions include community engagement in particular places, long-term collaborations, inclusion and exclusion in participatory processes, situated artefacts, participation across multiple settings, methodological reflections, theoretical perspectives on place and participation, and speculative or provocative propositions intended to stimulate discussion.
Submission
There is still limited availability! However, we are no longer accepting contributions (unless you have already discussed it with the organisers). If you would like to join in without a contribution, please send a request to us by email (jeminac@uio.no).
Registration
Note that workshop participants need to register for at least one day for NordiCHI, and at least one author must take part in the workshop. The workshop is indicated as “W13* SAT 9:30-17:30 - Where Participation Happens: Mapping…” in the registration form.
More information on registration here: https://sites.uwasa.fi/nordichi2026/registration/
Preliminary Schedule*
The workshop is organised on Saturday 3.10.2026 from 9.30-17.30, at the Academill building at Åbo Akademi University's Vaasa Campus (https://maps.app.goo.gl/TKRLWwcDKRcBXgSw5).
| Time | Activity |
| 9:30-10:10 | Welcome, introductions, and framing |
| 10:10-11:00 | Session 1: Participant Presentations |
| 11:00-11:30 | Coffee break |
| 11:30-13:00 | Session 1: Task, group work, group presentations, and discussion |
| 13:00-14:00 | Lunch break |
| 14:00-14:45 | Session 2: Participant Presentations |
| 14:45-15.30 | Session 2: Task and group work |
| 15:30-16:00 | Coffee break |
| 16:00-16:30 | Group presentations and discussion |
| 16:30-17:30 | Collective synthesis and future directions |
*Schedule might be subject to changes.
Outcomes
Workshop outputs will include annotated case representations, shared themes and tensions across cases, and a synthesis of key insights emerging from the discussions. Following the workshop, the organisers will produce a workshop report summarising the main findings and future directions for research and practice.
Organisers
Jemina Colley, University of Oslo (Norway)
Suhas Govind Joshi, University of Oslo (Norway)
Anne van den Biggelaar, NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway)
Sofia Strömqvist, KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden)
Emma Kirjavainen, University of Lapland (Finland)
Jo Herstad, University of Oslo (Norway)
Tone Bratteteig, University of Oslo (Norway)