Making the case for co-designing public infrastructure - part 2

Let's continue looking at why co-designing public infrastructure is so important. The first part looked at the very long time delays built into the feedback loop between design decision and impact that exist on infrastructure projects that aren't including customers in the process. 10-15 years is a long time to wait between decision and feedback, by which decision-makers are long gone, and have had plenty of opportunity to do further damage in the interim.

In this instalment I want to talk about the value of diverse perspectives when making design decisions.

It's useful to acknowledge that, by and large, designers are not like other people. That's true regardless of the area of design in which you're practicing. Designers have a tendency to observe, analyse and interpret the world differently. They receive different training, work on things that most people never think about the workings of, and notice things that others simply don't notice. Designers, then, also tend to see the world in similar ways to each other - especially if they've been trained similarly and worked on similar projects.

This is a polite way of saying designers can end up a little insular in their thinking.

It is possible for a designer to develop an affinity for others, and make design decisions that are more aligned with their needs. But because of those long feedback loops, we may not find out until it's too late.

Non-designers experience the world in the own ways, too. More importantly, it's them who'll ultimately end up using a piece of public infrastructure and it's for them it needs to work. They're the ones who can provide the best assessment of whether the infrastructure is delivering on their needs, and even confirming whether those are needs worth satisfying.

Co-design provides the practical approaches and philosophy needed to gather and make use of the experience of non-designers in short feedback cycles that can positively impact the project for the better. It drastically reduces the risk of the project, and drastically increases the likelihood that, when launched, the infrastructure will be of real use to the public - all of them.

Co-design practices ultimately bring down the cost of infrastructure over its lifetime, and lays the foundation for optimal adoption and utilisation - fundamental to the realisation of the project's potential value.