Summary
Speakers from the conference will speak on the themes of the conference, reflecting key insights that emerged over the three days and leaving us with critical questions we can carry forward as a community and individuals after the conference.
Key Insights
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Civic design needs to honor historical context to inform current practices.
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The urgency of civic projects must be balanced with the need for reflection and slow consideration of complex issues.
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Building and rebuilding trust is vital for effective civic engagement and project implementation.
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Civic actions by communities can serve as proof of concept for government initiatives.
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Pay transparency within organizations fosters trust and improves collective efforts.
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Civic designers must consider the long-term impacts of their work and how it affects future generations.
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Engaging with lived experiences leads to more equitable design processes.
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Collaboration and relationships with communities are key to successful civic design initiatives.
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Incorporating a variety of perspectives strengthens civic design outcomes and builds trust.
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Designers should embrace an iterative approach, recognizing that systematic change takes time.
Notable Quotes
"The sponge is really full; my brain is pretty full of lots of insights from the last couple of days."
"Always design a thing by considering your next largest temporal context."
"Can we afford to slow down?"
"Civic action as proof of concept is something that can get the government moving."
"We need to build trust within the organization to enable our design processes."
"There's a big tension and paradox between urgency and the potential need to slow down."
"Trust was the possibility for rebuilding something collectively after it has been broken."
"How does this project rebuild trust? That's an interesting guiding question."
"It's a marathon, not a sprint; pace yourself accordingly."
"There are lots of things we can work on in a sort of acupunctural scale way, tackling the bigger systemic issues step by step."
















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