Design thinking for developing a participation-app using Augmented Reality

Design Thinking is a methodical approach to systematically creating innovative solutions to (complex) problems. Within the research project Creactive Citizen this approach is to be applied to create an application for digital citizen participation. As a technological approach, the use of augmented reality is to be considered and tested.

The research project Creactive Citizen aims to digitise the process of citizen participation in relation to infrastructure and urban development projects (e.g. new building construction, design and revitalisation of public spaces) and thus to better address citizens. Finally, a coordinated link with participation procedures on site is to enable well-founded, more widely legitimised and thus improved decision-making in the planning of buildings, infrastructure or urban districts. Augmented Reality will be used to visualize, for example, construction work or changes in public space.

In this project, the students work in a team on a design thinking project, which will result in a prototype that will enable citizens to participate and to share, evaluate or discuss various ideas. A partner city and possible contact persons involved in the research project serve as a reference. Innovative approaches such as augmented reality or gamification concepts should be considered as technological requirements. The aim is the practical application of the learned methods from lectures such as HCI by carrying out a design thinking process.

Project starts in mid-May 2020