Reframing Participation: Inclusion and Democracy in Participatory Design

This paper introduces the key issues emerging from the conversa- tion Democracy and Participation: Inclusion and discusses the main themes, tensions, and research trajectories developed across the contributions. The Democracy and Participation: Inclusion conversa- tion brings together contributions that critically interrogate partic- ipation as a democratic and inclusive practice, demonstrating that inclusion cannot be treated as a methodological attribute (or a pro- cedural requirement), it must be understood as political, relational, and infrastructural work that unfolds over long timeframes and is shaped by institutional constraints and inevitable compromises. Grounded in the established tradition of Participatory Design (PD), the selected papers collectively challenge instrumental, procedural, and depoliticized interpretations of participation. Instead, they frame inclusion as political, relational, and infrastructural work that unfolds over time and is shaped by institutional constraints, power asymmetries, and inevitable compromises. Across diverse issues, including migration and resettlement, incarceration, health and care, ageing, LGBTQ+ communities, and cultural institutions, the papers demonstrate that inclusion cannot be reduced to repre- sentation or access, but requires sustained attention to relational labor, temporal commitments, and the conditions that enable par- ticipation to endure. This paper synthesizes the main cross-cutting themes of the conversation and positions inclusion as a fragile, situated, and ongoing democratic obligation.