Co-design
Engagement Overlay to the RIBA Plan of Work, published by the RIBA in January 2024, states:
Co-design (collective design) is making together; between the project team and participants to develop and refine the design, actively using creative, participatory methods.
Typically, during project work stages 2 to 4, the project team and participants work closely with participants to gather their input, insights, and feedback on the design proposals. Then, based on this feedback, it refines the design to create a tailored design that meets project needs, is functional, economically, and technically feasible, and reflects the community’s needs and aspirations. Links to levels of engagement: co-design can enable agency participants and treat people equally, leading to a more collaborative process. Co-design aims to promote inclusivity, diversity, and equity in the design process and to create more user-centred, sustainable, and socially responsible proposals.
“Co-design is not the same as public participation. One of the key differences between public participation and co-design is that the later implies collective design, as the term itself suggests – the prefix co- means together, which leaves co-design as designing together.” Ethics of Co-design
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings
Featured articles and news
What they are, how they work and why they are popular in many countries.
Plastic, recycling and its symbol
Student competition winning, M.C.Esher inspired Möbius strip design symbolising continuity within a finite entity.
Do you take the lead in a circular construction economy?
Help us develop and expand this wiki as a resource for academia and industry alike.
Warm Homes Plan Workforce Taskforce
Risks of undermining UK’s energy transition due to lack of electrotechnical industry representation, says ECA.
Cost Optimal Domestic Electrification CODE
Modelling retrofits only on costs that directly impact the consumer: upfront cost of equipment, energy costs and maintenance costs.
The Warm Homes Plan details released
What's new and what is not, with industry reactions.
Could AI and VR cause an increase the value of heritage?
The Orange book: 2026 Amendment 4 to BS 7671:2018
ECA welcomes IET and BSI content sign off.
How neural technologies could transform the design future
Enhancing legacy parametric engines, offering novel ways to explore solutions and generate geometry.
Key AI related terms to be aware of
With explanations from the UK government and other bodies.
From QS to further education teacher
Applying real world skills with the next generation.
A guide on how children can use LEGO to mirror real engineering processes.
Data infrastructure for next-generation materials science
Research Data Express to automate data processing and create AI-ready datasets for materials research.
Wired for the Future with ECA; powering skills and progress
ECA South Wales Business Day 2025, a day to remember.
AI for the conservation professional
A level of sophistication previously reserved for science fiction.
Biomass harvested in cycles of less than ten years.
An interview with the new CIAT President
Usman Yaqub BSc (Hons) PCIAT MFPWS.
Cost benefit model report of building safety regime in Wales
Proposed policy option costs for design and construction stage of the new building safety regime in Wales.
Do you receive our free biweekly newsletter?
If not you can sign up to receive it in your mailbox here.