Institutioning as Action: Mediating Grassroots Labor and Government Work for Sustainable Transitions

Liesbeth Huybrechts, Dolores Van Den Eynde, Gasper Kabendela, Elke Knapen, Janepher Kimaro, Fredrick Magina

Public governments charged with overseeing sustainable urban transitions face multiple challenges stemming from limited resources, means, and time. Addressing such challenges requires innovative approaches that are not typically part of the standard work practices of governmental institutions and often take the form of initiatives originating within grassroots communities. As a result, governments have increasingly recognized the value of engaging with such grassroots initiatives and frequently invite participatory designers to facilitate collaborative activities between public institutions and communities. Conversely, grassroots communities often seek the support of participatory designers to enhance dialogue and foster cooperation with public governments to strengthen their work on the ground. To further explore and better understand how participatory design (PD) methods can support these collaborative efforts—referred to as institutioning—this study combines a literature review with a comparative analysis of two case studies from Tanzania and Belgium. This research provides a framework for field analysis and mediating future institutioning cases in the context of sustainable urban transitions. It also highlights institutioning as a PD process driven by the collective learning that takes place between governments and communities. Furthermore, we present five socio-material mediating actions that encompass interactions across human and more-than-human actors.