Facilities such as parks and cycling infrastructure are intended to encourage an active lifestyle. Yet they are not always accessible to underrepresented groups such as the elderly and refugees. With seed funding from the Institute for Preventive Health, the EQUAL team explored how digital participation tools, coupled with emerging technologies such as AI and eXtended reality, can give these groups a voice, to ensure that their needs are taken into account when designing these facilities.
‘Parks, sports facilities, bicycle infrastructure, and other lifestyle amenities in the city are often developed in a top-down manner,’ says project leader Gamze Dane from the Built Environment Department at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). ‘This is often based on the existing knowledge of policymakers and designers, but without consulting underrepresented groups, such as the elderly, young people, refugees, people with reduced mobility, and people with low literacy skills. As a result, their needs are not met with these new urban developments, for example information about facilities is not available in accessible languages, facilities are located beyond comfortable walking or cycling distances, or public spaces feel socially unsafe or unwelcoming. This contributes to spatial and social inequality.’
Decision-making processes
With seed funding from the Institute for Preventive Health, the EQUAL team, consisting of researchers from TU/e, WUR and UU, and practical partners, sought new ways in 2025 to involve these groups in spatial designs. “To gain a better understanding of their often-specific needs, it is important that they participate in decision-making processes,” adds TU/e colleague Cem Ataman. ‘This rarely happens now, because traditional forms of citizen participation, such as lengthy and often Dutch-only consultations, do not appeal to them. Lack of trust also plays a role. Will anything actually happen with the input you provide? And is it safe to speak up? People who have fled from another country may be afraid to say anything that could be used against them.’
Digital participation tools
According to both experts, digital participation tools can increase engagement, especially if they are developed together with the target group and reflect their language and social dynamics. Ataman: ‘A virtual reality tool in which citizens can design their own living environment is a good example. Such tools also make it possible to participate from home, which feels more anonymous and lowers the threshold for participation. This approach is particularly appealing to young people.’
The team also examined what criteria an equal digital participation tool must meet. How do these target groups want to explore design scenarios? What social and technical barriers do they encounter, and how can these be resolved? This was done through literature research, interviews with researchers from various disciplines, municipalities, NGOs, and representatives of the target groups, as well as a two-day workshop involving commercial designers of participation tools.
Culture of participation
Ataman: ‘Our main conclusion is that focusing on designing a digital participation tool is too limited. To truly engage the intended target groups, we actually need to create a culture of participation, in which citizens continuously and actively contribute ideas and participate in decision-making on policy, rather than occasionally responding to ready-made policy proposals. However, this is a long-term process that is likely to take 5 to 10 years.’
Framework and design principles
In the meantime, there is also work to be done. Thanks to the transdisciplinary approach, the team was able to combine its knowledge of behavior, environmental factors, and spatial design principles into a single framework and design principles for equal digital participation tools. The framework brings together social, cultural, and technical dimensions, including language accessibility, trust and data safety, spatial perception, and the contexts in which people participate. A core design principle is that digital participation should adapt to users’ abilities and situations, rather than the other way around. Dane: ‘We are now working out the details in a position paper. The next step is to scale up the framework, apply it in practice, and develop a prototype of a digital participation tool.’
More information
More information about the EQUAL project can be found on the project page:
Article by: Annemieke Groenenboom