[Changing] Communities

Designing with and for communities is a broad and multifaceted topic. In this introductory paper to the track Changing Communities, we discuss a series of studies that employed collaborative processes to tackle urgent public interest issues while empowering communities at the same time. A variety of themes emerged: one main transversal area is about cocreation and co-design methodologies that have demonstrated to have a transformative potential in addressing complex societal challenges. Another theme is about social innovation, considered both as the process of change of social practices and as the outcomes in terms of new products, services and policies. In particular healthcare arose as one of the main application fields of numerous papers, being discussed in different contexts such as medical device design, healthcare service design, health information systems and others. In addition, there was an area addressed by some papers that was about how to take care of the commons, tackling issues related to public space, placemaking and collective heritage, to mention a few. The studies of this track have illuminated the way forward, emphasising collaboration, empathy, and community empowerment as cornerstones of design practices that shape a more inclusive, sustainable, and innovative future.