A literature compendium with key texts from the field, including extracts from:
- Simonsen, Jesper and Robertson, Toni (eds.) (2013). International Handbook of Participatory Design. Routledge.
- Smith, Rachel Charlotte et al. (eds.) (2025). Routledge International Handbook of Contemporary Participatory Design. Routledge.
CoDesign - Design, Participation and Democracy
Freestanding course
About the course
This course enables students to understand and develop relevant skills in co-design (working together to address a challenge). Co-design is understood as a practical and political process. Students will learn how to design and carry out collaborative and participatory processes for the engagement of different actors in exploring a specific issues, articulating it and collaboratively formulating possible responses. The course combines theory and practice within the field and it supports students in reflecting on opportunities and challenges of these processes. The course is on-site, the learning activities and the examination are based on active participation and collaborative activities between students in class and beyond.
Course content
Students will learn about diverse approaches and theories within co-design which can be used to carry out collaborative projects together with different stakeholders (e.g. NGOs, citizens, public authorities).
The course learning activities and the examinations are based on active participation and collaborative activities between students in class and beyond.
Through teacher-led classes, practical design work and reflective work - students will explore core topics (e.g. co-design history, mutual learning, materiality and participation) and consolidated approaches (e.g. ethnographic methods, collaborative mapping, workshops); as well as contemporary topics within the field (e.g sustainability, city making) and experimental approaches (e.g. collective prototyping, design events, interventions).
Students will also perform a so-called ‘Design Thing’, which is a format for a public democratic and material engagement. The hands-on experience gained from the exercises will be used as a starting point for further reflection and learning in class.
Entry requirements and selection
Entry requirements
General entry requirements + English 6 + At least 120 university credits .
Selection
100% University credits completed
Course literature
Course evaluation
Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).
