The Design Research Lab is a laboratory for experimental design and research reflecting on the digital society. Through playful interventions, critical making and collaborative reasoning we investigate possible futures. As a platform and network, we are deeply involved with the requirements and policies needed for an inclusive and sustainable development of the digital society from a design perspective.
We are an interdisciplinary team of designers, researchers, tech-enthusiasts and critical thinkers from Berlin University of the Arts, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, as well as Einsteincenter Digital Future (ECDF).
The project addresses new forms of civic participation focussing on social and digital connectedness. The goal is to co-design an inclusive, digital society.
During the process several questions emerged: How can we encourage participation, facilitate exchange and create more transparent processes between municipalities and citizens? Which opportunities do citizens have to increase the livability of their city in a self-organizing way? How can we create a just and fulfilled coexistence? Which structures can be strengthened by the municipality and which role plays the digitalization therein?