Client: VGR (Västra Götalandsregionen)
Industry: Urban Design · Community Engagement · Public Sector Service Design · Arts & Culture
Timeline: 12 months periodically | 2024
My Role: Research Assistant, Service Designer
Team: PhD Researcher, Röhsska Museum, Form Design Center, Not Quite Fengersfors

Contribution

I contributed to the research, facilitation, and documentation of a service design project focused on transforming urban spaces through artistic methods. I created visual and graphic materials, captured workshops and interventions, and produced transcripts of audio materials.

Competences.
Co-creation facilitation · Service design research · Documentation (photo & video) · Graphic communication · Exhibition design support · Interviews · Transcribing

Click on the image above to go to the project's webpage.

Challenge

Modern cities often prioritize efficiency and function over creativity and play, leading to sterile environments that discourage social interaction and recovery. This project explored how artistic and community-led methods could restore emotional connection, inclusion, and joy in urban spaces.

How might we use artistic and participatory methods to transform urban spaces into inclusive environments that promote play, recovery, and community connection?

Approach

I worked within a multidisciplinary team to explore how design and art can foster social inclusion. Through co-creation sessions and fieldwork, we engaged local residents in shaping prototypes that reflected their needs and ideas. My focus was on visual communication, capturing key insights, facilitating storytelling through media, and making research outcomes accessible to both experts and the public. There were 4 workshop installations and talks over the period of a year.

Activities.
Field research & documentation · Community co-creation workshops · Interactive Artistic Interventions · Exhibition design support · Data Mapping · Transcribing Audio Materials · Data Analysis

Result

The project reactivated underused public spaces by merging community input with artistic experimentation. It inspired local participation, strengthened social cohesion, and demonstrated how play can become a tool for urban recovery and sustainable development. The learnings were showcased in exhibitions and shared with policymakers and design institutions.

Deliverables.
Urban play prototypes · Exhibition graphics · Concept ideation on project learnings · Interactive Prototypes (Alpha & Beta) · Core Flow · Core Loop · AI Companion Conversation Flows · Accessibility design · Design systems

Learnings

Service design thrives on collaboration and shared ownership. Integrating artistic methods into research helped reveal emotional dimensions often missed in traditional urban planning.

Takeaways.
I contributed to a project that proved how art and design can drive community resilience and inclusivity. The experience deepened my ability to balance creative expression with systemic thinking and stakeholder alignment in complex service design contexts.