Marie Løken
Design for Democracy, Systems Oriented Design 2016
Oslo School of Architecture and Design
Partner: Doga, Ingvil Aarholt Hegna
The semester’s topics has been design for democracy. People tend to forget that democracy is more than just voting. Democracy is also about participation. Participation through dialogue, debate, and discussion in an effort to solve problems in the community. The aim has therefore been to increase participation. My focus has been on participation within urban planning. I have been collaborating with Doga, the project owner of Folketråkk. Folketråkk is a project that is based on an existing participation tool for children, called Barnetråkk. Folketråkk shall become a tool where people of all ages can contribute into municipal planning in a new way.
My project started with getting an overview of the context of participation and Folketråkk. It has been important for me to figure out how Folketråkk could be an easy and attractive tool to use. I have therefore been in regular contact with relevant actors and users. As well as gaining knowledge about motivation, behaviours and participation. In my meetings with Tønsberg municipality I learned that the ones that participate the least are the young. I have therefore focused on reaching them through a digital platform that are easy to use.