Participatory Design Back to its Political Roots: Insights from the Full Papers.

This introductory paper to the PDC 2026 full papers reflects on the political foundations of Participatory Design (PD) at a time marked by conflict, polarisation, and global crises. Drawing on thirty-seven contributions organised into conversations, it traces how PD’s po- litical dimension is articulated across diverse civic, institutional, digital, marginalised, and multispecies contexts. Rather than treat- ing participation as a methodological feature, the paper frames PD as sustained political work unfolding across infrastructures, scales, and temporalities. Building on this analysis, it advances a set of political commitments aimed at discussing neutrality, resist- ing instrumentalisation, re-politicising the designer’s role, engaging larger scales, embracing longer temporal horizons, envisioning plu- ral futures, cultivating multispecies politics of care, and navigating uncertainty. In the face of escalating wars and deepening conflicts, this essay distils the commitments proposed by the accepted papers and offers a modest contribution to peacebuilding, social justice, and transformative change.