Building spaces & communities: the process of improving Kansas City's recycling system with community input

Kansas City has the opportunity to expand its recycling programs and infrastructure through a participatory design process conducted at the Kansas City Design Center (KCDC). Because participatory design techniques can allow researchers to include members of the community in the planning process, project outcomes can generally be more successful. In the example of the recycling and composting project led by students at the KCDC, an advisory committee made of professionals and members of the community represented many stakeholder interests. Because of the wide array of feedback from the community, the process of design for the studio was not linear, but rather, it transformed over a period of research, design, further research, and redesign. The students first approached local recycling issues within the scope of a document written for grant funding. However as students responded to feedback from the advisory committee, the final proposals were altered to better address truer community needs. Other aspects for how to communicate and respond to critical feedback was also realized. This report aims to discover how participatory design aided this project and made its outcomes and delivery more agreeable to the larger population.

Grantor dc:publisher

Kansas State University

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Heermann, Lauren

• Community
• Engagement
• Co-design
• Recycling
• Participatory

Statement dc:rights

• © the author. This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/2097/32709

OAI record oai:identifier

https://krex.k-state.edu/server/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Akrex.k-state.edu%3A2097%2F32709