Conference Agenda

This paper offers a critical account of using a layered systemic design process to surface the complexity of a superdiverse neighbourhood - Jackson Heights, Queens, New York. The approach employs systemic design practices through walking and iterative prototyping to encounter a multiplicity of experiences and forms of participation that shape place. Four methodological contributions are presented: critical vignettes from ethnographic walks framing complexity, systemic visualization from walks with residents, three prototypes of archives and across the paper, accounts of systemic participation shaping place. The layered approach is presented as a form of systemic design participation in itself. It reveals how superdiverse places are sites of localized participation and governance that may resist, adapt to or deviate from normative policymaking. It advances research in systemic and place-based design practice by linking community experiences to systemic conditions while offering opportunities for design researchers to grow contextual awareness when working with marginalized communities.