Equitable and Inclusive PD for Public Services: Using Shared Reflexivity to Unpack Enablers and Limitations
Uttishta Sreerama Varanasi, Rūta Šerpytytė, Joanna Saad-Sulonen · 2026
Participatory Design (PD) has aimed to be an approach towards ideals of democratic empowerment, civic engagement, capacity building and emancipation, especially in the context of marginalised and vulnerable groups. To an extent, immigrants in Nordic countries can be included in vulnerable groups, since they are afforded restricted rights and access to public services as compared to citizens, facing challenges such as intentionally complex processes and a lack of accessible information in their language. While PD has been used to develop more equitable and inclusive technologies for vulnerable groups, PD literature still lacks detailed reporting and analysis on the considerations for how to engage with marginalised communities.