Keynote Brian Dixon

Tuesday 5th of May 2026 - 17u30-18u30

Kapittelzaal (house #2 / 1.4), Beguinage Hasselt

The Politics of Institutions - Democratic Innovation through Co-Design

Brian Dixon, Head of Belfast School of Art, Ulster University, Belfast. Co-Design as a Mediator in Governance: The potential of reconfiguring relations between publics, institutions and knowledge

This talk will explore the intersection of co-design and democratic innovation, focusing on how participatory design practices can shape and are shaped by contemporary governance contexts. Drawing on democratic theory and design research, I will reflect on questions of legitimacy, inclusion, deliberation and power in participatory governance. Two cases will be presented. One looking at a set of recent design proposals in the context of Scottish Participation Requests, where communities can request local authority consultation. Another looking at a design-led democratic mini-public undertaken in an island context in Northern Ireland. Attention will be directed to how artefacts, processes, and infrastructures enable or constrain democratic participation, with co-design positioned as a mediating practice that can reconfigure relationships between publics, institutions, and knowledge within policy and decision-making processes.

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