Is Community the Key to Designing More Humane Services? / James Lang / Ep. #227

Have we, as the design field, contributed to the erosion of our social fabric over the last years...

I had a big week recently.

My daughter received the news about which high school she'll be attending next year. In the Netherlands, we have a lottery system for high schools; you list multiple options and hope fortune smiles upon you for your first choice.

The second option on my daughter’s list involved a 45-minute bike ride, which is quite a journey, even by Dutch standards.

A few weeks prior, we’d made that bike ride together to visit the school. Reflecting on those 45 minutes, it struck me.

The experience is, of course, completely different when you make that journey alone compared to when you’re riding alongside your best friend to school.

Suddenly, those 45 minutes take on a totally new meaning.

So, in this case to make the journey more enjoyable, you don't have to redesign the roads, you need to design for connection.

This got me thinking: What if we shifted our focus in design?

What would happen if we started designing more for groups instead of just individuals, for 'together' instead of 'alone,' for co-experience and communities?

And what is the price we pay if we don't?

It seems that many other fields already embraced the importance of community, while design seems to be trailing behind, why is that?

These questions have been going through my mind a lot lately.

That's why I was particularly excited to chat with James Lang.

James, a founder of the collective Together by Design, has spent the last few years deeply immersed in the world of community design.

In this episode, we explore why community design is an essential, yet often overlooked, part of the service design toolkit and share practical ways to build stronger connections through design.

So if you're looking to design better, more humane services while strengthening our communities at the same time, this is the perfect episode for you.

James and I had a fun debate about the art and science of knowing if your community is "working". I'm curious which side you’ll lean towards after listening.

Keep making a positive impact and design for community!

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Intro / Welcome

04:00 Why Design Communities?

07:30 Community defined by James

10:30 Sense of Belonging

12:00 Together by Design

16:00 Why Study Communities?

26:00 Changing Our Approach

30:30 Ethics in Design

31:00 Ethics in Community Design

34:00 Cult vs. Community / Power Dynamics

37:15 Community Defined by Marc

31:30 Community Ownership & Power

40:45 Commercial Communities

42:00 Non-Commercial Communities

42:30 Money in Non-Commercial Communities

47:45 Community Health KPIs

51:45 Marc's Community Example

52:45 James on Marc's Community

56:00 Why Measure Community?

57:00 Measuring Community Signals

58:00 Intentional Community Building

1:01:00 Resources & Get Involved

1:02:30 James' Closing Thoughts

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslangresearch/
• https://www.togetherbydesign.org/
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/together-by-design/

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle