The team of researchers composed of Julieta Matos Castaño, Deger Ozkaramanli, Anouk Geenen, Mascha Van der Voort, organized a workshop at the DRS 2020. Interested in the abstract of the workshop? Have a look at the text below!

Abstract: This Workshop will facilitate an understanding of how controversies in socio-technical contexts (e.g. smart cities) can serve to integrate creative collaboration and ethical reflection among stakeholders. Creativity assumes an action-oriented, solution-focused attitude, whereas ethical reflection requires a critical attitude. Although these attitudes seem incompatible, unpacking controversies when addressing complex socio-technical challenges can help to integrate them. Controversies are situations where perspectives collide where value tensions emerge. These tensions help to reflect on technical and human-centred aspects of socio-technical challenges and create room for understanding different perspectives. We contextualise the Workshop in an ongoing, nationally funded research consortium project that explores the role of design in developing inclusive smart city visions. Through collaborative (design-)activities, participants will use smart city controversies – like the tension between data surveillance and privacy – to reflect on the ethical implications of urban technologies. Besides, participants will co-create prototypes that expose the constructive aspects of controversies. The outcome of this Workshop will inform future research activities on collaborative future-making. Moreover, participants will gain insights into the potential of controversies for participatory design processes. We invite participants that have affinity with interdisciplinary research projects and are interested in exploring the role of design in addressing complex socio-technical challenges.