Encountering, Engaging with and Nurturing Relations in PD Processes - An Explorative Approach to Relational Work and Reflexivity

This paper investigates the characteristics of relational work in Participatory Design (PD) practices. Through three cases, we discuss how researchers encounter, engage with, and nurture relations during the early, often fragile stages of PD processes.
Building on existing research of relationality in PD literature, we draw on empirical material to develop an approach for depicting and describing relational work. We situate our analysis within municipal care contexts, aiming to identify and articulate different forms of relational work and reflexivity. We reflect on how relationships emerge, unfold, and evolve throughout these processes. Our contribution is twofold. Firstly, we present an approach to analyse PD projects through a relational lens, grounded in empirical cases. We propose an extension of relational language to understand relationality through various dimensions of relational work and reflexivity in dialogue with existing PD literature. Secondly, we explore how relational approaches can be advanced in a more practice-oriented way. We propose an explorative lens allowing researchers to expose and familiarise themselves with relational aspects present in PD processes.