Proceedings of the 19th Participatory Design Conference 2026, Vol. 3: Workshops, Situated Actions, and PDC Places

Many years have passed since the first Participa- tory Design Conference (PDC) in 1990 and much has changed in our world, but this event remains a landmark forum in the Participatory Design (PD) community. As well as being a significant oppor- tunity for people to come together and meet each other, the conference stimulates submissions provi- ding opportunities for reflection and discussion. Each edition focuses on a theme that presents a challenge – whether explicit or implicit – for researchers and practitioners in the field. For this reason, the conference Proceedings remain an important reference for many years to come, documenting the evolution of the field. And those from this specific edition will certainly continue to serve as such for a long time, framing further critical reflections on the pivotal role of PD in contemporary society. This 19th edition of PDC has opened up a discussion on issues that are particularly relevant and timely, both now and in the near future: Peace, Dialogue, and Coexistence. In our fragmented times, these three words represent a really urgent imperative. The challenge today is to take the PD’s perspective beyond the realm of academic and industrial research, transforming it into a means of addressing the complexity of the problems facing our world. The theme of the 19th PDC has, once again, brought the political dimension of the PD to the fore. What emerges is the need for PD to serve as a fair and inclusive framework, one that takes into account the concerns of those with less voice and power, taking a stand for them in seeking a democratic approach to complex problem-solving. This renewed political dimension of PD invites us to address another aspect that has increasingly characterised recent PDC editions: the endeavour to engage with the perspectives of scholars who are not solely ‘internal’ to PD. In this edition, this effort has been particularly fruitful, as can be seen from the contents of these Proceedings. Finally, there remains a strong focus on highlighting, as far as possible, contributions from the Global South, emphasising diverse epistemological perspectives and recognising their crucial value in fostering the growth of the PD community as a whole. Submissions for this edition PDC were over 500 from five continents, across the various categories. Of these, nearly 180 contributions have been included in the Conference and in these three volumes of the Proceedings. This huge collection of material is an enormous potential for the future of PD as a discipline capable of transforming our world into a better place. This third volume contains 12 Workshops, 24 Situated Actions, and 12 PDC Places submissions. Together, these formats create spaces for interaction, exchange, and situated engagement within and beyond the conference. Workshops are temporary spaces where conference participants share and co-produce knowledge through active engagement. Situated Actions create interactive encounters between authors, the PDC community, and the local Milanese community. Finally, PDC Places are decentralised, place-based events that took place in the months leading up to the main conference in Milan. All submissions were single-blind reviewed by their respective Chairs.