The primary objective of Play for Democracy is to, as stated in Formas' project application in 2020, “utilize the municipal preparations for a new City Hall at Ängelholm as an operative framework for the development of a new cross-sectoral working method for the artistic design of public spaces for sustainable living environments which emphasize the children's right to co-create contemporary life and future.”
Text: Per-Johan Dahl
The methodologies adopted by Play for Democracy are contextualized in a tradition of non-linear, iterative learning and innovation processes, such as those by the five-stage design thinking model proposed by the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, and by the six-stage biomimicry model proposed by the Biomimicry Institute.[1] Emphasizing the open-ended attributes inherent in the concept of play, the methodologies of Play for Democracy can supplement the existing courses at the elementary school. They can be used to fulfill the Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) on matters of architecture, art, and democracy, and to apply the ILOs through engagement in real-world events.
Real-world events are instances and concerns that, in various ways, proceed outside the elementary school. Yet they have bearing on the democratic rights of the pupils. To engage in these events, the workshop establishes a platform from which the pupils can deploy their democratic rights to engage in debates and influence decision-making in planning strategies, such as influencing the planning of a new City Hall in Ängelholm.
The Play for Democracy method encompasses an open-ended, iterative process which focuses on playful teaching through artistic exploration, and on learning by doing. It utilizes the workshop format to render a process of curiosity and creativity in the teaching of democracy, architecture, and artistic practices for elementary level pupils.[2] Democracy is taught and prototyped through a critical approach to a well-defined object of inquiry -- a mission or phenomena seen as the focus or target for discovery and action – which has been reconceptualized by the workshop tutors.[3] At Ängelholm, the object of inquiry was the municipal process of developing a new City Hall. The object of inquiry should not be used for problem solving, but rather as the engine of creative play, design, and discovery process.[4] The workshop method presumes a faculty of experts in art and architecture with the conceptual capacities in the perception of instigating, leading, and teaching an unpredictable, iterative process of free creation.[5] The pedagogy must operate autonomously in relation to the elementary school faculty and administration.[6] The Play for Democracy method emphasizes four key phases: express, explore, prototype, disseminate.
Here the pupils use the object of inquiry to identify connections between spatial design and democracy. During this phase, the pupils learn and apply two-dimensional representation techniques for expressing their ideas about space and democracy. Different methodologies are used for teaching and applying representation techniques, such as plan and section drawings, billboard messages, and paintings. A pedagogy of playful teaching serves to reduce the abstract components in the representation techniques, making the professional mediums of painting, signage, and drawing more accessible to the children.
In this phase, the pupils use the means of “building together” to explore design and occupancy of space in different scales.[7] Architecture encompasses both a bodily experience, and an intellectual capacity to shift between different scales of representation. To intermingle the corporeal and the intellectual, this phase uses a pedagogy of shifting focuses between self-experience and the experience of others. To explore their own bodies in space, the pupils engage in a full-scale workshop. To explore others’ bodies in space, the pupils engage in a scale model workshop that includes both individual and collective momentum. The methodologies of choreography and model making are used for interconnecting bodily and intellectual components in the design and discovery of space.
The prototype phase focuses on interaction with society. By engaging in large-scale construction and real-life action, the pupils test their democratic rights. They use the city as an interface between the autonomy of the group and the society that surrounds them. Different methodologies can be applied, such as the building of artifacts, the organization of protest marches, and the mobilization of public media. During this phase, the pupils are exposed to and interact with the political systems that consolidate a democratic state. They prototype democracy by expressing their rights in the public space.
The workshop concludes with a summing-up activity that celebrates the pupils’ engagement and results. The exhibition of physical outcomes, such as artifacts and paintings, should be curated to communicate the pupils’ ideas and propositions for the object of inquiry -- the curatorial work should additionally spur discussion, and the exchange of knowledge, with agencies such as stakeholders and public servants. The format for celebration may correlate with the different formats that are used for public outreach, such as art and architecture exhibition, public inauguration, and panel discussion. These formats provide a space for knowledge exchange and communication, as well as an opportunity to present the pupils’ work for key individuals. The exhibition format also provides, a context in which to evaluate the workshop results.
Overall, you should understand that these four key phases are different modes of interaction with the object of inquiry, rather than sequential steps. The goal throughout the process is to explore different approaches to the foundations of space and architecture, and what their criteria would be for the democratic rights of children.
Play for Democracy is an autonomous process wherein the Prototype and the Dissemination phases include a variety of interactions between the pupils and the society. The drafting of the object of inquiry determines the level of interaction. The aim of establishing a space where the pupils can influence the design of a City Hall, which was the case at Ängelholm, encompasses a rather ambitious level of societal interaction. But the object of inquiry can be drafted for less interaction with forces that orchestrate societal change. All interaction with society, and thus the possible impact on real-world decision making, requires meticulous preparation. This ranges from obtaining permits for protest marching and temporary land uses, to the organization of food and sanitary provisions, to the clearing of safety guidelines.
The DNA of Play for Democracy is an open-ended, explorative play and learning process able to generate various results that can be used for societal impact. However, these results must be translated through a protocol with agency at the object of inquiry. At Ängelholm, the objective was to implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child in urban planning praxis. This was done by facilitating a space where the children could exercise their democratic rights in the planning of a City Hall. The protocol with agency was the brief for the architecture competition, which provides guidelines and instructions for the design and development of a City Hall. The conventional guidelines of an architecture competition brief include merely quantitative requirements, such as planning and building codes, size requirements, procurement procedures, and requirements for technical performance. By adding presence to the competition brief, the pupils were given agency at the municipal process that plans and prepares for a new City Hall in Ängelholm.
As the Play for Democracy method is contextualized in the making of art and architecture representation, the workshop will produce tangible results that can be used in a competition brief for influencing the municipal planning process. As the results derive from an explorative and open-ended process, they need to be interpreted by experts with similar levels of conceptual capacities as the workshop staffing. In Ängelholm, the interpretation of results was made through evaluation and categorization of photos and movie footage, which were paired with observations of the pupils’ behavior.
The interpretation of workshop results emphasizes three categories of influence at municipal process: inspiration, installation, instruction.
Evidence from the workshop can be used to inspire City authorities to recognize the pupils’ opinions, needs, and dreams regarding urban planning process. By inserting images from the pupils’ process and results in the competition brief, and providing access to film of their activities, the workshop can serve as a source of inspiration for the architects who will engage in the competition.
As Play for Democracy is contextualized in the making of art and architecture representation, the workshop will generate physical results, such as paintings, drawings, and scale models. These artifacts can be used both for inspiration and for instruction in the competition brief. Photos of the artifacts inserted in the competition brief can serve as inspiration for the architects who will work with the competition. They can also serve as instructions for spatial design, thus requiring the architects to design spaces or strategies for selected artifacts to be installed at the completed City Hall. As the design and construction of a City Hall will be rather extensive, the drafting of instructions should correlate with adequate facilities for storing the artifacts.
The open-ended, explorative play and learning process at Play for Democracy may spur the pupils to produce prospects for space and design that supplement conventions in architecture and urban practices. In such cases, the translation of the pupils’ work may extrapolate hybrid forms and programs feasible to stimulate new spatial experiences at the City Hall. As the status quo of industry generally bypasses the effort it takes to develop such spaces, the translation of workshop results can be expressed through instructions in the competition brief. These can require the design to include certain spatial qualities, such as “the entrance should be designed with scale and expression for both children and adults,” and “every floor should include outdoor spaces.” This category of influence will have the most direct impact on society, as it will materialize the pupils’ right to co-create contemporary life and future.
Writer: Per-Johan Dahl
The text was discussed February 2, 2023 in a critical friends seminar, including Caroline Dahl, Guy Lafranchi, Donatella Cusmá, Pernilla Theselius, and Per-Johan Dahl.
SOURCES:
[1] For more information about the five-stage design thinking model proposed by the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, and the six-stage biomimicry model proposed by the Biomimicry Institute, see for example the websites: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/design-thinking, https://hallbarhetsguiden.se/metoder/biomimicry-naturen-som-kalla-till-ideer-och-smarta-losningar/
[2] Groat, Linda N., and David Wang. Architectural Research Methods. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2013: 9.
[3] Dahl, Per-Johan. "ZHUuGROUND14: Critical Skills and Social Interaction at CityU." HKIA Journal, no. 69 (2014): 32-35.
[4] Aureli, Pier Vittorio. The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 2011.
[5] Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, translated by Norman Kemp Smith, London 1929.
[6] Dahl, Per-Johan, Donatella Cusmá, and Caroline Dahl. "Education through Experimentation: Elucidating the Intersection between RIEAch and Design Thinking." 2016 Design Communication European Conference: Inclusiveness in Design, Istanbul, Özyeğin University Publications, Istanbul, Turkey, 11-14 May 2016, 2016.
[7] Dahl, Caroline, and Per-Johan Dahl. "The Celebration of Co-Creation." Topos 94 (2016): 40-47. Dahl, Per-Johan Dahl, and Caroline. "The Making and the Meaning in Collaborative Design at Frihamnen Gothenburg." SCAPE Magazine 16 (2019): 66-69.