The Reciprocity of Design | Kelly Ann Cunningham | TEDxRuakura
A speaker discussing design emphasizes that effective solutions arise not from expert-led planning but from humbly collaborating with the lived experience of the community members affected by the problem. Using the example of a youth pop-up space in the Hiku, the speaker showed that granting agency to young people allowed the community to own the solution, creating a more meaningful impact than any planned intervention. Ultimately, the call is for designers to shift from being the sole originators of solutions to acting as humble coaches who enable others. ## Speakers & Context - Speaker is a designer addressing a panel of decision-makers. - Story is based in Theo, a large area in the far north of New Zealand, showing a contrast between the developed areas (chic cafes, Holiday Homes) and the deprivation of the Hiku. - Main urban center discussed is Kaya, a small town of around 4,800 people, which the speaker notes is a place one might drive around but not through. - The speaker frames the discussion around the "overwhelming love, passion, untapped creativity and commitment" of local individuals and groups who seek improvement. ## Theses & Positions - Many people are designers, and every decision has an enormous impact on how others are enabled or disabled from living the lives they want. - The common expert-led approach to problem-solving often fails because it ignores the input and wisdom of the intended recipients. - Design is inherently a values-based activity, where designers risk assuming their values and needs must belong to others. - The most effective solutions emerge when designers allow themselves to be led by the wisdom and insight of the communities they serve. - The expert design role should shift from being the "star lineman" to that of a "humble and outcomes focused coach." ## Concepts & Definitions - **Design Thinking:** The process being critiqued/re-framed, moving away from expert-led solutions. - **Design by the people who actually use them:** The proposed model for successful outcomes in products, services, policies, and programs. - **Agency:** The capacity given to people to address their own challenges. - **Co-creation phase:** The methodology used in the Hiku project where the speaker worked alongside local individuals to develop ideas. ## Mechanisms & Processes - **The Expert Trap:** Traditional decision-making involves designers crafting solutions "from Ivory Towers," often geographically and experientially distant from the recipients. - **The Process Failure:** Boardroom discussions often spend too much time talking *about* people with problems, rather than talking *to* them, failing to ask basic questions about wants, needs, and desires. - **The Ideal Shift:** Allowing local individuals to define and own the problem, then co-creating the solution, leading to ownership and sustainability. ## Timeline & Sequence - Current project focus: A youth focus project in Kaya, New Zealand. - Problem observed initially: Adults had determined what young people needed, often showing distaste for those who wore pajamas or got into trouble. - Intervention phase: Stepping into the gray space—choosing not to know and not to cling to expertise—to be curious about the lived experience of young people. - Successful outcome sequence: Identifying problem → Granting explicit permission/respect for young people to act as experts → Co-creation → Building a functioning youth pop-up space in three days. ## Named Entities - **Theo:** Large area in the very far north of New Zealand. - **Hiku:** A specific location within the far north of New Zealand, contrasted with more developed areas. - **Kaya:** Small town of around 4,800 people in the Hiku. ## Numbers & Data - Pop. of Kaya: **around 4,800 people**. - Pop. attending the pop-up space: **more than 500 young people** in its first few days. ## Examples & Cases - **The Hiku Contrast:** The dramatic visual and economic contrast between areas with "chic cafes" and the "deprivation" of the Hiku. - **The Pop-up Success:** The community successfully built a "fully functioning youth pop-up space" in "just three short days." - **The Failure Example:** An "architecturally magnificent pristine and beautiful Community facility" that remains empty because the community does not see themselves in it. ## Trade-offs & Alternatives - **Expert-led Design:** Leads to aesthetically beautiful but potentially hollow solutions lacking ownership. - **Community-led Design (Co-creation):** Leads to more robust, meaningful, and sustainable solutions because the people using them own them. - **Limiting Factors:** Excuses cited for *not* using community input include: "it'll take too much time," "it'll be too expensive," "people don't know what they need," or assuming the group isn't "smart enough creative enough or anything else enough." ## Implications & Consequences - If the process is expert-led, the result is "missing the wisdom insight and ownership of young people." - The consequence of ignoring local expertise is creating beautiful, yet unused, facilities that fail because the community doesn't see themselves reflected in the design. - The primary consequence of shifting methodology is enabling others to gain employment or education aligned with their discovered talents. ## Conclusions & Recommendations - Policymakers must discard excuses and trust that those with lived experience can lead the way. - The speaker advises that when writing a project plan or business case, one must pause and consider how the work will enrich the lives of others. - The expert role should transition from a directive position to that of a "humble and outcomes focused coach." ## Verbatim Moments - *"The contrast across the hiku is striking should you drive from east to west the Chic cafes Holiday Homes and Resorts Fade Into the landscape of Summer New Zealand's worst deprivation compared to most of the country."* - *"if we're willing to be led by them then together we can develop more robust and more meaningful solutions to many of our most pressing Social Challenges."* - *"We didn't accept the adults view of the problem would be solved through the proposed solution of adults running more events and putting those events into a plan instead we stepped into the gray into a space of choosing not to know not to cling to expertise but to instead be curious about the lived experience of young people."* - *"Where traditionally a designer or decision maker would have gone on in received a brief outlining the problem maybe done a little consultation or gone straight to a solution we recognize that while we are expert designers and while we can conceptualize novel Solutions it doesn't make us experts in others lives."* - *"The community don't visit because they don't see themselves in it they see only the expertise of the designer who crafted it so the community's contributions and subsequently the value meaning and ownership they could assign to it is Miss."* - *"I'm not sure the world needs more apps More Design Awards or more one hit wonder products but what I do know and what anyone could know looking at how poorly New Zealand rates across a range of social measures is we desperately need more people being enabled to live happier and healthier lives."* - *"we have to challenge and discard our excuses and trust that those with lived experience can lead us to Solutions instead of us trying to lead them."*