A framework for designing for divergent values

Abstract

Designers increasingly collaborate with other actors to deliver designs that address diverse stakeholder needs. Such multidisciplinary design processes revolve around integrating various, often divergent values, including the ideals that collaborating actors have, and the different kinds of worth that they attempt to realize. As values are multidimensional and continuously in flux, the process of designing for divergent values requires conscious action. Existing theories of values and methods for integrating diverse, possibly competing values are still scattered across disciplines, leaving designers with little overview and handles for what they have to deal with. Synthesizing insights from workshops with architects and literature from a wide range of scholarly domains, this paper presents a first step towards an integrative framework that can help designers and design students to effectively discuss and reconcile divergent values in multidisciplinary settings.