Participatory Design Processes Towards Inclusion: Three Case Studies within Italian Social Care System

The presentation discusses the topic of participatory design processes with a systemic approach as a tool to negotiate, shape and prototype new inclusive models of citizenship and care to benefit marginal groups in society. Since 2009, our interdisciplinary research group, composed by designers and anthropologists, carries out socially engaged practices in several italian cities, entailing both methodological analysis and transformative actions on social care systems and on their users: services’ beneficiaries (e.g. asylum seekers, migrants, people affected by chronic diseases, homeless people), caregivers, services’ management. The topic will be addressed via three case studies from our !eld experience: ‘Design for Each one’, a co-design project of personalised devices for people suffering from multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy; ‘Cantiere Mambretti’, a participatory renovation of shelters for migrants and homeless people; ‘Costruire Bellezza’, a new service aiming at social inclusion based on design workshops involving homeless people and university students.