Subversive participatory design: Reflections on a case study

This paper grounds in a research experience for engaging olderpeople as co-designers of several wearable and in-housetechnologies. We start by describing a case study that is a pre-commercial procurement aimed at developing innovativeservices for the welfare of citizens, with a focus on olderpeople. We present and discuss the qualitative data gathered onthe occasion of a bodystorming with two groups of participants.The analysis led to the identification of the “aestheticappropriateness”, the “social sensitivity”, and the “genderawareness” as three different dimensions that affected theacceptability of the technological devices. This approachcreated the conditions for instantiating the subversive power ofparticipation. At the same time, such a subversion proved theauthenticity of the participatory process. By drawing on thisproject, the purpose of the paper is to further our understandingof the conditions for Participatory Design.