Purpose.
The intention of the design sprints, a 3-hour workshop where participants are asked to identify, prototype, and test potential solutions to a specified problem (these 'problems' will be taken from our preliminary findings), is to generate a number of community-based solutions. Design sprints are a unique blend of knowledge gathering and dissemination.
Procedure. In short.
Using well-established design tools that follow the 5-stage design thinking problem-solving process (d.school, 2019), the research team facilitated four design sprints in the local community with community stakeholders. Undergraduate research assistants attended each session and documented events. A community partner report will be made available in fall 2024.
Procedure. In length.
As a problem-solving process, design thinking has two phases: problem identification (through empathy building and defining the problem) and solution development and testing (through ideation, prototyping, and testing phases) (d.school, 2019). This collaborative problem-solving process puts the 'user' or 'client' (our community partners and local residents) at the centre of the problem-solving process through collaborative activities. Our research team used design thinking tools to find innovative solutions that could be implemented in City neighbourhoods, on their pathway to becoming more inclusive and livable. The outcome of these sessions included a series of bottom-up ideas of community development that will contribute to our community partner's existing knowledge on contemporary systemic barriers facing the community members with whom they work.
The research team also had the distinct privilege to work with Wayne Williams (Design, MacEwan) and received feedback from Dr. L. Hassan from McMaster University.
Our primary stakeholders include Edmonton residents - both individuals born in Canada and newcomers (whether refugees or immigrants). Our findings have the potential to directly enhance the well-being of racialized residents, but it will also result in benefits for non-racialized residents, as it will provide local knowledge concerning systemic barriers unique to Edmonton, and hopefully result in equitable hiring practices and service provision. This research seeks to help support existing knowledge with additional evidence-based data with the following goals: (1) building residents' resiliency and capacity and, (2) identifying and addressing systemic barriers (particularly financial and social network barriers) in one's local community. Finally, this work features MacEwan's strategic research plan to conduct student engaged, community-based research at the heart of the city.
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