the perfect
storm
a guide to
hosting a co-design workshop
for the public sector
based on methodology developed by the City of Cape Town for World
Design Capital 2014 to address built environment design challenges from
small scale public art to the regeneration of an entire district
Contents
Introduction
2
Design and Design-led thinking
3
Principles of Co-design
4
Planning a workshop
physical and human resources
stakeholder mapping invite process:
public sector
private sector
community
designers
5
6
On the day
personnel, setup
registration and opening,
typical programme
during the day, closing
designer walkaround, breakdown
9
10
11
12
13
Design synthesis
14
Adapting the methodology
15
Conclusion
16
2
Introduction
World Design Capital Cape Town 2014
in July 2012, at the signing of the Host City Agreement
for the World Design Capital Cape Town 2014, Mayor
Patricia De Lille said:
“for WDC2014 there will be projects in all of the city’s
111 wards and there will be a competition where
people can vote for what they want to see in their
neighbourhoods”
in response to this, a methodology was developed
by the WDC department at the City of Cape Town
together with expert service providers, to engage 120
mixed stakeholders in a full-day co-design workshop
addressing up to three sites on the same/a similar built
environment challenge.
the Ward Projects Programme saw a series of 40 codesign workshops run in 3 phases over 20 months, with
resounding success. Challenges were mostly routine
built environment upgrades with small pockets of
cial year. they included: park upgrades, trading sites
and public art. more complex challenges such as
neighbourhood CBD upgrades, transport interchanges and the ‘reimagining’ of problem facilities were
taken on as part of larger line department projects
or programmes such as MURP. the methodology
was adapted to address ‘non-physical’ challenges
such as the design of youth skills development programmes, and service/experience design for the staff
and users of a City clinic.
This manual was made to inspire and empower anyone in the public sector to host their own co-design
workshop.
3
Design and Design-led Thinking
understanding design for transformation
Design is a powerful problem-solving tool that, used
effectively, can harness human resource and creative
energy to ultimately improve quality of life for citizens
across the spectrum.
A city is a complex organism, forever growing and
mutating. The issues prevalent in today’s cities can
be termed ‘WICKED’ – a wicked problem is one that
cannot be solved, but instead can be managed by
means of considered interventions that address the
whole. Design and design-led thinking have proven to
be effective mechanisms for addressing complexity.
COLLABORATIVE
Design-led thinking acknowledges totality and
interdependency – so if you change something
here, it affects other parts of the system.
Design-led thinking follows an abductive rather
than deductive logic - so it relies on ‘blue sky
thinking’, experimentation and iteration, and can
require a leap of faith.
Design-led thinking allows us to better understand
problems - so by bringing externalities in the equation so we can arrive at better solutions
The design process is characterized by a divergent
phase where information and ideas are gathered,
followed by a convergent one during which the same
are distilled.
a co-design workshop day takes us roughly half way
along the convergent phase, producing up to 15
process is carried out by a ‘Key’ designer who was
present on the day and is briefed to synthesise all the
info into one single concept design.
4
USER-CENTRIC
divergent
problem
statement
CREATIVE
convergent
solution
Principles of Co-design
swarm theory, whole system interventions
one would imagine that 120 people going up to a
groups every hour would be absolute chaos. not so.
in fact we humans display a peculiar ‘swarming’
behaviour when in large groups. 30 people in a workshop will tend to sit and wait to be told what to do,
and will take longer to do things. Larger groups tend
to self-organise - spatially, socially and time-wise - and
tend to complete tasks and present ideas back faster.
the energy generated by a large group of people all
in pursuit of a common goal, should never be underestimated.
a co-design workshop is best used as part of a longer,
more rigorous project process. It is not a ‘silver bullet’ or a way of generating solutions more cheaply or
quickly. it does not eliminate the need for thorough
research or experts but rather ensures a more holistic
approach to the challenge by introducing the user
perspective.
vention. as an advanced form of public participation,
it serves to lay a solid foundation for the project, and
is a good basis on which to build a Community Action
Plan (CAP)
truly user-centric environments, systems and products
can only be generated over time through collective imagination and knowledge, and require what
is called a ‘whole system intervention’, characterized by a cross-section of stakeholders replicating as
closely as possible the mix of stakeholders found in
the broader system. In this case, the key stakeholders
!
bers/project users, CBOs, NPOs, the private sector,
academia and the design community, and the group
size around 100 pax.
with a view to making this guide a little easier to understand, we have used colour to represent different
role-players involved with the workshop process :
LEGEND
public sector
private sector & NPOs
community
designers
service providers
5
Planning a workshop
service providers
physical and human resources
x 3 major
Our service providers were procured through Tender
(services >R200K) and RfQ (services <R200K)
Facilitation Services
Two experienced facilitators and three assistants are
required to lead the workshop in minimum two languages as required. Between them, translation capability should exist in all local languages. Ideally, the
lead facilitators should be experienced or trained in
this methodology.
Designers
your designer needs will be different for every workshop, but you should account for
1 key designer paid to process the workshop outputs and present back a concept proposal
8 designers to be paid a day stipend
6 volunteer or student designers
we employed a service provider to solicit, manage
and pay all the designers.
Catering
a full-day workshop requires a huge amount of energy. it is important that participants have easy access
to refreshments throughout the day - at least water,
but ideally tea, coffee and fruit as well, on a station
inside the hall. lunch should cater to local tastes and
dietary requirements - our menu was 75% Halaal and
25% vegetarian.
tips:
be resourceful. We made our own lightweight ‘spaza
"
#$'
*
+#9
top with two binder clips, and the base secured to a
plastic chair with string threaded through holes.
for months before the workshops we collected old
magazines and (clean) packaging materials - candy
and egg boxes, yoghurt cups, polystyrene etc. which
are great for model-making
6
facilitation, designers,
catering
x 2 minor
x3
map printing, sound
project manager,
project administrator,
media/ logistics
assistant
additional
materials/stationery buyouts, community transport,
Venue
*
#;$
250m2, with an entrance foyer and a catering kitchen. We used City venues - community or sports&rec
halls - which were free if booked by a subcouncil of=*?
;
the day.
Maps
the A1 maps we used as the basis for discussions and
as the base for the models later on, were captured
from the City’s GIS and sent for professional printing
on thick poster paper.
Facilitators should supply all the materials usually required
!!
!
paper, scissors & glue sticks (1 per group).
example materials list (for 1 workshop)
1 crate magazines - mixed (family, outdoors, leisure,
fashion, travel, sports etc.)
1 crate (clean) small packaging materials: eggboxes,
yoghurt cups, fruit trays, polystyrene, candy boxes
craft knife (1 each per group)
A4 poster card - white, bright and pastel colours,
5 tubs multicoloured playdough
5 packs kids multicoloured fat kokis
disposable plastic cups - white and clear
wooden lollipop/dentist sticks, toothpicks, sosatie
sticks, clothes pegs
wire, string
multicoloured paperclips, drawing pins,
multicoloured bendy drinking straws, cocktail umbrellas, streamers, water balloons
1 crate assorted organic material - stones, sticks,
leaves, grasses
Planning a workshop
stakeholder mapping, invite process
A successful workshop depends on having the right
people there. You should begin inviting people no later than 4 weeks before the event.
Invite two or three times as many people as you would
like to have there. Our return:invite ratio was 20-40%
throughout the programme.
private/ NGO
sector
x 25
public
sector
x 30
community/
user groups
x 50
designers
total
participants
=
x 15
120
public sector
Think laterally when compiling your invite list. For a
challenge involving a wetland POS bordering an IS
a highway and a school, you would call on - enviro
management, solid waste, roads, stormwater, health,
sanitation, parks, sports&rec etc.
You want to invite:
@
!
particularly technical/implementation staff.
the relevant Ward committee and Subcouncillors - Ward, PR and Chair
other government and agencies eg. Province,
National, SANRAL, Transnet, SANParks
tips:
create a simple, graphically appealing invitation at
A5 or similar, one that works in colour or B&W.
write short, friendly emails (with the invitation attached) explaining to stakeholders why they should
come to the workshop and what to expect... peoples’ time is precious.
it is good practice to also attach a map of the venue
location (screenshot from google with the venue
pinned), particularly if the address is vague.
We recommend you send these emails out as calendar invites so it’s easy for people to click ‘Accept’ or
‘Forward.’
log your RSVPs in Excel or similar spreadsheet program as you will use the list to compile your register.
7
Planning a workshop
stakeholder mapping, invite process
community
private sector
You want to invite:
You want to invite:
local residents - those living around the
site/area being workshopped
other users of the site or area eg. shoppers, commuters, skaters
local organisations - CBOs, committees
and residents forums, traditional leaders, church/
mosque groups, youth groups, seniors groups,
sports clubs
local schools - principal, teachers, caretaker and/or students
local businesses, formal and informal traders, shop-owners, businesses like a nearby
supermarket, hardware store, factory, scrapyard
etc.
business organisations - taxi & bus associations, business-owners forums
local NPOs - those active in the area in
any sector, but importantly those relevant to
your challenge, community development, youth
and ECD.
other relevant NPOs or businesses - depending on your challenge, this could mean
a permaculture, arts or sports organization, for
example.
the methodology works well with anyone over
the age of 15 years. workshops where high
school learners participated, were some of the
most dynamic and fruitful.
most seniors responded well to the day’s activities and made a valuable contribution, particularly during storytime.
inevitably, some participants arrived with babies
or young children. they were accommodated
on condition that the child stay with the adult
throughout the day, and kids koki’s, paper and
playdough kept the older ones busy.
8
tips:
it is important to reach community leaders and local
CBOs. in our case, most of these were connected
into ward committees or on subcouncil databases
in communities where email is less common, the PCto-sms software Grapevine worked well, particularly
if reminders were sent by the subcouncil two days
before the workshop.
printed posters (invite blown up to A4 or A3) put up
in the local library and at the venue attracted a few
people.
most successful was the distribution of invites as A5 or
+X
committee members, neighbours of the site etc.
Planning a workshop
key designer x 1
stakeholder mapping, invite process
total
designers
designers
= 15
Designers are important to the workshop process as
they tend to act as translators of ideas. They demonstrate the process of design through their actions, and
‘coach’ other partcipants to express their ideas.
The methodology requires one designer per group of
8 participants, so in our 120-strong workshops, we had
15 designers. Of these:
1 was a key designer, charged with collating
all the outputs of the workshop and synthesising them into a concept design to be presented
back to the project team afterwards. the key was
paid a stipend.
8 were professional designers, paid a smaller stipend to participate from 8am-5pm and briefed to
act as design coaches later on in the workshop.
6 were student or volunteer designers, participating in the same capacity as the professionals, but
unpaid.
procuring a good key designer is important. whether
a landscape designer for a park, an urban designer
for a CBD upgrade, an interaction designer for a new
memory centre or a social designer for youth skills
programmes.
the more diverse your pool of professional designers,
the better your workshop. while the base places were
almost always taken up with Architect/Urban Design[\+
!
der with other designers - industrial, graphic, motion,
permaculture etc. some of our designer ‘stars’ turned
out to be a bag designer, an interior designer and an
engineer.
students, though they proved hard to get, turned out
to be very valuable contributors in the workshops.
professional designers x 8
student/volunteer
designers x 6
A two-page brief is emailed to all designers by the
project manager a day or two before the workshop.
It contains a link to the site location on Google Earth,
and explains how they should participate as ‘active observers’ in the morning sessions and as ‘design
coaches’ for the modelmaking session. importantly, it
cautions them against taking control of the activities
and gives tips for working with such diverse groups of
people.
the Key designer is sent an additional 1-page brief
outlining their role and responsibilities at the workshop
as well as the requirements for synthesising the design
afterwards.
tips:
the better briefed your designers are, the better your
output. co-design is not for everyone - the process
is a humbling one and some designers really didn’t
enjoy it.
paying out small stipends to multiple unregistered
*
!
employed a service provider to solicit, manage and
pay all the designers - a clumsy solution. Instead,
recommend doing an RfQ for a key designer, which
includes the procuring of the rest of the designers
9
On the day
personnel and setup
facilitators are responsible for setting up the venue.
the project team are responsible for setting up
reception and directing the caterers and sound
engineers.
tables x 24
chairs x 150
15 for participants
4 for facilitators
and materials
1 for reception
1 for sound desk
3 for catering
120 for participants
#;
10 for staff (reception, facilitators,
sound)
5 extra against a wall
colourful vertical banners help to enhance
the workshop space
and make a big venue
more intimate
speakers placed on either
side of the front focus area
and directed towards the
centre-back
lead facilitators
front of workshop
central to long
wall of hall
reception to
be set up in
entrance hall
or just inside the
entrance to the
workshop hall
facilitators
assistants
materials tables
(administration/
eventing)
catering
station
visual
station(s)
caterers
10
(photographer)
participant
tables laid out
in a staggered
array facing the
centre-front end
!
the back end of
each table
On the day
registration and opening
registration process
reception should open half an hour before the programme begins
greet : hello and welcome, are you here
please...
[
give programme and table number card
direct into hall, pointing out coffee station and
anticipated start time
opening
the project manager opens the workshop:
greet: hello, welcome and thanks,
why we are here - a little background on the
challenge, point out visual station
hand over to facilitators
the facilitators:
introduce their team
introduce the workshop programme and process
run through housekeeping - toilets, exits, refreshment station etc.
tips:
tea, coffee and breakfast snacks should be available
from the time the workshop opens.
few people arrived in time for the start of the workshop and there tended to be a slow dribble of registrations throughout the morning. we only accepted
people until lunch, after which new participants are
too disruptive to the process. always explain to people how important it is that they stay until the end of
the workshop (4pm for a full-day)
the venues were mostly centrally-located public
halls, so people regularly walked in off the street to
see what was happening. we accepted everyone,
capacity permitting, and some of the walk-ins turned
out to be star participants.
late arrivals should be shown where the group is on
the programme, led into the hall and handed over
to an usher - one of the facilitation assistants, ideally
who speaks their mother tongue who will take them
to their table and introduce them to their group
we used used sheets of white sticky labels and black
*
legibility and correct spelling is important, even if it
needs to be done over.
purple sticky dots on the name tags were used
to identify designers - it helps the facilitators to
make sure they are properly distributed in the last
exercise(s)
11
On the day
typical programme
PROG
GRAMME
08h00
0
08h30
0
1. Welc
come
Introduc
ctory remark
ks about Wo
orld Design Capital 201
14. Worksho
op facilitators
explain the worksho
op program
mme and process.
08h45
5
2. Who
o is in the Ro
oom and Wh
hy?
Participa
ants get to know each other, and see who is participatin
ng and why
y.
09h15
5
3. Story
y Time
Each site
e has its ow
wn unique hi story. There are many stories
s
– thin
ngs we know
w,
rememb
ber or have been told b
by family an
nd friends. We
W can piec
ce these to
ogether
to tell on
ne big story.
10h15
5
10h30
0
4. Turning Problem
ms into Oppo
ortunities
It is easy
y to find many problem
ms associate
ed with our parks
p
and p
public open spaces,
but how
w can we loo
ok at thingss differently and focus on
o turning th
hese into
opportu
unities for go
ood?
11h40
0
5. Drea
aming Whatt Could Be
What wo
ould these sites
s
look like
e in your dre
eams? Prep
pare a colla
age that willl inspire
others.
12h30
0
13h15
5
6. Desiign Principle
es
If we wa
ant the deve
elopments tto meet ourr needs and
d expectatio
ons, we must define
some rules to be followed in de
esigning the
e proposals.
14h00
0
7. a. Model
M
Buildin
ng
It is easie
er to explore
e ideas and
d learn what is possible through bu
uilding some
ething.
Having gathered
g
in
nformation, we can now
w build a model
m
of ourr own design for the
site, inco
orporating the
t
elementts that we fe
eel are mosst importantt.
14h50
0
15h05
5
ď͘ Model
M
Building – contin ued
e away parrt of your
Having visited
v
other groups, yo
ou need to refine your design.
d
Take
model to
o make spa
ace for imprrovements. Try and build somethin
ng which is feasible
f
and dessirable as well as beauttiful.
15h50
0
8. Clossing
Brief closing remark
ks from the ffacilitators & WDC team
m.
16h00
0
12
Worksho
op End
On the day
during the programme, closing
during the programme
closing
after opening the workshop, the project manager
should participate in the programme, along with any
members of the project team involved closely with
the challenge.
as the last exercise draws to an end, the facilitators
will ask everyone to sit down. they will then close the
programme:
wrap-up and thanks,
point out feedback slips, ask participants to
complete them and drop in the suggestion box on
the way out
hand over mic to project manager to explain
*
front to close the workshop by saying a few words on
what they thought of the day
farewell to all except the designers, who are
asked to come up to the front
the administrator in the team should run the reception, ideally with one additional support staff to assist
in the morning rush and act as backup to ensure that
front of house is never unmanned.
the third team member remains inside the hall, takes
care of the setup and breakdown of visual stations,
and photography throughout the day.
tips:
music made a huge difference to the atmosphere
in the workshop. we briefed the sound engineers to
play soft jazz during all breaks and softly during the
creative (rather than discussion) exercises.
as the drinks station remains open all day, the caterers should be briefed to clear tables at intervals while
participants are working ie. not while presenting
13
On the day
designer walkaround, breakdown
designer walkaround
the project manager, together with the key designer,
will now lead the group of designers on a ‘tour’
around from one group’s model to the next.
at each table, the designer from that group will
present their scheme to the Key in a short 1-2min
pitch. They should explain the different elements of
the design and how they work, as well as the main
things that were important to their group members
during the model-making process. The Key then has a
chance to ask questions as necessary for clarity. the
Key will photograph the models and make notes as
they go.
workshop breakdown
the facilitators are responsible for breaking down the
workshop. models should only de destroyed after they
have been photographed and discussed.
the project team are responsible for breaking down
reception and bundling up the visual station and the
workshop outputs - collages, story and idea cards for the key designer to take away. they should also
photograph the models properly, making sure to get
a clear plan view of each.
14
tips:
it helps to move through the models in an orderly
fashion. it can help to number the models if the
designer wants to take away the comments on the
post-it notes, in which case they should all be numbered to match their model before being removed
we catered for 120 people at every workshop. any
excess food was given to a nearby organisation usually childrens or edlerly home - nominated by the
*
Design synthesis
key designer management, design presentation
Design Synthesis
the Key designer had been briefed to individually
‘synthesise the material that came out of the workshop into one single concept design for your site’ to
be presented back around 6-8 weeks after the workshop and handed over to the City for inclusion into
planned future upgrades.
while the format and medium of the presentation was
left up to designers, they were given guidelines.
most produced A4 or A3 design reports of 10-20
pages summarising the workshop and its outputs then
presenting a co-created design, along with precedent images showing local and international examples of how the different elements could look.
Design Presentation
this usually takes place 6-8 weeks after the workshop
*^
laptop, projector and screen should be set up in the
meeting location which should ideally have at least
partial black-out facility. Key designers are asked to
send a PDF of the presentation/design report to the
project manager the night before, and a colour copy
should be printed for each attendee so they can follow the content and have something to take away.
#;_$
*
tation, which should be allowed to run uninterrupted.
!
`{
of clarity and then facilitate a discussion around the
!
|
"
the role of the designer should be explained clearly to
all attendees from the outset, along with the fact that
be used as a platform for future discussions. After the
meeting, the design should be circulated to all attendees and the raw outputs of the workshop can be
returned to the project team or discarded as desired.
View from Netreg Rd facing Safety Tower & Public Sq
PRECEDENT IMAGES
COMMUNITY GARDEN...
Flower gardens
Community vegetable gardens
Kids play paths and labyrinth garden
Mosaik seating
The garden space proposed on the north east corner of the
site is suggested as a community initiative garden. The
community can incorporate art, local materials and talents.
This will create a sense of ownership and allow the community
to have a input in creating their own pubic spaces and
hopefully prevent this from becoming a neglected & unused
space.
15
Adapting the Methodology
experiments with object, programme and service design
the challenges for most of these workshops related
to design for physical spaces at the site or neighbourhood scale - community parks, large public open
spaces such as wetlands and retention ponds, vacant
lots and underutilised facilities.
the morning’s programme remains largely the same
until the ‘visioning’ exercise which, for a built environment challenge focuses on the site, but for a more
generic or human-centred challenge focuses on the
user, their needs and experiences.
The methodology can however be adapted to address other challenges such as the design of products
or objects, services, experiences, programmes and
interventions.
Object design
DESIGN CONCEPTS
example: Reimagining the Trading Structure
with a view to generating proposals for a modular
system to accommodate traders of all types, participants create typical characters (stallholders) who
become the clients for whom their trading structure
designs are modelled.
x 1m x 2m mild steel frames
allow multiple setups for various markets
reduce initial costs for traders
modular system that can adapt to progressing needs and means of traders
can form a lockable ‘box’
Programme design
example: Youth Skills Development Programmes
ies of the skills development programmes they will
be designing. groups then put together proposals for
pitch these back in a short ‘skit’ to the audience, who
rate their ideas.
Service/experience design
example: Service Design at Ikhwezi & Town II Clinics
the goal here is to understand the challenges faced
by clinic users and staff, and solicit practical ideas for
improvements to the system. participants are asked
to choose a character/patient and act out in groups
their ideal journey through the clinic. this can be done
as two shorter workshops a few weeks apart, where
ideal situation with their improvements.
16
Conclusion
resources, credits and contacts
resources
contacts
The most complete resource on the Ward Projects
programme can be accessed at:
http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/WDC2014/Pages/
Ward-projects-Co-design-workshop.aspx
the web page contains a map marked with all ward
project locations, information on the workshops and
links to the resulting design outputs.
Internal to the City of Cape Town:
World Design Capital Department (to end June 2015)
Richard.Perez@capetown.gov.za
Daniel.Sullivan@capetown.gov.za
Alicia.Oelofse@capetown.gov.za
External to the City of Cape Town:
special thanks to:
The Cape Craft and Design Institute for their sup
Associated Media for their generous donation of
magazines
Xanita Cape Town for their generous donation of
materials
The Cape Town design community who gave of
their time and energy to make the programme a
success
The citizens of Cape Town, without whom none of
this would have been possible
Regarding the methodology and training in facilitation:
Marc and Catherine at Ingenious Peoples Knowledge
Marc@i-p-k.co.za
Catherine@i-p-k.co.za
Regarding facilitation:
Graham and Zalia at ZAG Consultants
zagconsultants@gmail.com
Vuyo Luxande at Mthombo Development Consultants
vuyo@mthombo.co.za
Regarding facilitation and the co-ordination/management of designers:
Karen Stewart at Ahhaco
ahhaco@gmail.com
[author: Lindsay Bush, WDC2014 Ward Projects Programme Manager, City of Cape Town.
all content is based on personal experience]
17