Design for Belonging: The correlation between belonging, identity shifts and mismatches in inclusive systems

With the increased involvement of designers in matters of public discourse, local communities and policy making [1-3] – parameters of inclusive design have moved more prominently into the roles of leading frameworks utilised by practitioners [4-6]. Following on from the Social Turn [7] the imperative to challenge values and attitudes to design [8] and its societal contribution was further demonstrated, resulting in a push for communities to take part in the creative process to produce positive engagement and environments for all [9]. Inclusive design aims to generate solutions to disaggregate and remove barriers to involvement and eliminate separation [10-11]. The term accessibility is often mentioned as a descriptor or enabler of a design becoming inclusive, yet accessibility alone does not generate cultures of participation, relatability, or true inclusion. The preposition that accessibility points in a system’s periphery count towards the design being deemed inclusive, is one of the main issues within enquiries of system imbalances [8-11]. Whilst designers focus on generating accessibility points catered to as many needs as possible, what remains is a vast neglect of what happens to the people once they are inside the system. Lacking relatability and processes of active exclusion push people’s established and shifting identities into places of othering. Far beyond just inclusion, a design that considers one’s intrinsic need to belong, could generate the acceptance of an individual as a part of the system and affirms their full identity to produce greater motivation to progress [11-12] This emerging awareness of cultivating belonging within inclusive design raises considerations for solutions that target urban, migrant communities, where matters of identity are accentuated [12]. This paper will present propositions towards a Design for Belonging, operating on systems thinking practice and explicated through visual data mapping, which in the context of this particular study - focusing on experiences of people with complicated migration/immigration or refugee background.