Community design/building in Japan & China: From Participatory Design to Co-design

Abstract

Community design is always a crucial component of architecture design. And a crucial factor that should be taken into account in the community design process is resident involvement. Today, "co-design" is growing in popularity. "Co-design" refers to the inclusion of locals in the designing and building process of the project. Architects should engage community members and get feedback from them continuously. In Japanese community residents are highly motivated to participate in the planning and construction process. The community's participation in design and construction has a lengthy development history, beginning with rehabilitation projects that happened as a result of the periodic earthquakes and tsunami (Jiang, 2023). This essay documents six Japanese community design cases, analyzing their histories, current status, benefits, and involved parties. A matrix examines the various participant kinds, behaviors, and levels of participation. Inferences are drawn about how to move the current participatory design process to the co-design stage, and with a Chinese case as an example, how to apply Japanese participatory design techniques to Chinese community design.