In the Relational Sandbox: Deep Democracy and Technology

Designing for democracy often emphasizes values while overlooking the role of relationships in shaping civic life. This workshop explores how relationality – encompassing social ties, political agency, and economic conditions – shapes
grassroots democratic experiments and the technologies they inspire. Grounded in principles of deep democracy and participatory approaches, we use the Relational Sandbox to conduct small- scale experiments on how democratic technologies can redistribute power and how locally rooted designs can resist extractive technology development. Through the lens of relational civics, we co-imagine strategies prioritizing meaningful, democratic technologies over capital-driven ones. The workshop invites designers, activists, and researchers to co-develop strategies and design guidelines that place relationships at the center of
democratic practice.