Transcript

The Reciprocity of Design | Kelly Ann Cunningham | TEDxRuakura

I'd like to tell you all a story about a small town a pair of pajamas and the magic of good oldfashioned sharing our story is based in Theo a large area in the very far north of New Zealand 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 household incomes in the hiu are low access to technology and the internet limit unemployment high and educational achievement low the he's main urban center is the town of Kaya a small town of around 4,800 people Kaya is the type of town you might drive around but not through I'm sure you can all imagine a town or city like this I'm sure you could pause and imagine what it would look like feel like and how people living in the town talk about where they're from regardless of statistics of the facade of people's homes their grades bank accounts all the common narratives we tell about these kinds of towns something wonderful is also present that is the overwhelming love passion untapped creativity and commitment of some magic individuals and groups who want to see things improve for all people living in theu and as designers and decision makers if we seek these people 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 who considers themsel a designer no one a few are you responsible for the funding creation oversight or sign off of policies programs processes systems Services strategies the impact on others lives I think many more of us are designers than we realize that the decisions we make and directions we take have an enormous impact on the ways others are enabled or disabled from living the lives that they want to live and it's possible we undervalue the power of design to shape new ways of being and thinking or to change behavior for the constructive or the distractive I come into this story as a designer who had taken on a youth Focus project in kayre the small town of around 4,800 people we soon learned that some adults while wanting the best for young people didn't think very highly of them we heard distaste towards young people who wore pajamas instead of town instead of pants who walked around town getting into trouble needing better manners we heard that young people needed something and adults had decided what that something should be now that you know you're a designer too and that design matters what would you do 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 we checked ourselves out of being the experts as we recognize that they leing experts when it comes to their lives just as we all are ours that they are best place to identify and give name to the most pressing challenges that they face how can a group of people get excited about solving a problem they didn't play a lead role or any kind of role in defining and how can we expect they'll use and benefit from a solution to a problem they don't understand see is pressing or an issue at all through giving explicit permission and respect to young people to act as experts in their lives and changing our approach we began to hear things we hadn't heard before that some young people felt unsafe in town that they felt unwelcome in community facilities and most impactful that they didn't feel liked or valued by adults 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 for many many years designers and decision makers have prescribed solutions from Ivory Towers we have been the ones to identify a problem that needs solving and through our ways of looking at and understanding the world expertly crafted Solutions often far removed in distance and understanding from the intended recipients of those Solutions sometimes towns cities even countries away and I know this I see it often across Industries and sectors and I understand it I too was trained to work in this way something doesn't feel right about this approach that our lives as designers and decision makers are full of decisions about how others get to live theirs I'm sure you can all bring to mind an experience of helplessness or of frustration when a product service policy or program failed you or someone you love perhaps they missed out on the care they needed in hospital in aged care or at home or perhaps you or they slip through the cracks of the child protection Justice or education system when you didn't get a say in how something worked when your needs weren't understood and designed for that affected you so the decisions we make about others on behalf of others affects them too as designers and decision makers we're spending days weeks months and even years sitting around boardroom tables talking about the people with the problems and in the same way discussing the solutions we're spending an enormous amount of time talking about people but not to them often failing to ask the most basic questions about their wants their needs and their desires because we think we already have the answers or worse yet we think we know better solutions for communities live in communities not on boardroom tables in our story some adults were actually looking to solve their problem of not wanting to be confronted by young people living in poverty or getting into trouble due to a lack of safe places to go and services that really me their constantly evolving needs design is a values-based activity when we design for others we're often consciously and unconsciously shaping their Solutions with our values our sensibilities and the ways that we think people and the world should be we make assumptions about other people's needs and often assume that our needs must also be theirs but and it's a big but there's something missing from this approach of expert lead design of individuals and communities being done to and for remember those magic individuals I talked about earlier who are bursting with untapped creativity and enthusiasm for helping others live happy and healthier lives where are their contributions and what are we missing what have we lost without their active participation and identifying the problem that needs solving as well as the solution to reach bit social outcomes designers and decision makers must allow themselves to be led by the wisdom and the Insight of communities the hard truth is we're simply missing the mark when it comes to many of our Public Services strategies policies and programs perhaps you can think of an example of an architecturally magnificent pristine and beautiful Community facility which in all of its wonder and Glory remains empty visited only by other designers and professionals 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 and we can see a way of doing this through the expert design role becoming that of a humble and outcomes focused coach as opposed to the star lineman a coach who is skilled in drawing out the gifts and talents of a team who can offer tools and methods when needed or stand back and let the team shine when we perpetuate the belief that only designers can and should design and as designers when we're unwilling to share our toys we miss the opportunity to enable others with greater agency to address their own challenges both great and small we have so many excuses for why we can't do it it'll take too much time it'll be too expensive people don't know what they need we've already decided what we need to do or more diminishing still those people in the so and so group aren't smart enough creative enough or anything else enough for what this project needs following on from understanding the problems young people face from their perspective we moved into a co-creation phase where we alongside some of those magic individuals and groups supported young people to bring to life ideas that could work towards addressing some some of the problems that identified through the supported initiative of young people the community pulled their existing resources to bring to life a fully functioning youth Le popup space in just three short days in the few days it was open it draw in more than 500 young people they saw themselves in it they owned it and it was their proud creation and through putting together this project some of those adults who had looked down on young people looked down on pajama wearers could now see those very same people as capable of making a positive difference thereby working towards addressing the problem that young people didn't feel liked or valued by adults and through putting together the project many young people have gone on to gain employment create new jobs initiatives or to achieve an education aligned to the talents they discovered they had through participating in something and some adults we worked alongside could see a different way of working and a means of releasing some of their burden of responsibility knowing that they could just defer to the real experts the young people this could have been different we could have gone in developed an aesthetically beautiful novel and well-considered solution that solution would have been Hollow missing the wisdom insight and ownership of young people today more popup spaces are happening across the heu products Services policies and programs are so much more effective and meaningful when they design by the people who actually use them 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 the next time you sit down to write a project plan business case to design a policy program or initiative can you first pause and in that pause consider how your work will be enriched as well as enrich the lives of others you're allowing yourself to be led by those with lived experience of the challenge you're trying to solve [Applause] [Music] h