Comparaison de deux approches contrastées de la conception participative : enseignements tirés de la conception d'outils d'évaluation de la durabilité de projets d'agriculture urbaine

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Abstract

How to involve end-users in the design of tools has been a major issue in design sciences for decades. This article explores the case of sustainability assessment tool design in the intra-urban agricultural sector. Today, professional intra-urban agriculture (PIUA) projects are developing exponentially in Northern countries, taking a variety of forms such as greenhouses on rooftops, indoor mushroom farms, or educational farms inside schools. PIUA stakeholders need to assess their sustainability, but this innovative form of agriculture requires specific tools. This article is dedicated to the participatory design of sustainability assessment tools adapted to PIUA. Users’ participation can take different forms; for this reason, we compare two participatory design approaches to explore whether and how they take account of users’ realities. To do so, we built a specific analytical framework based on the comparison of the design processes, the concepts and knowledge generated, and the tools designed. In the first approach, French PIUA stakeholders are involved through interviews and surveys to validate the content of the tool. In the second approach, French PIUA stakeholders, including some of the participants in the first approach, are involved through a diagnosis of uses and innovative design workshops. Our results highlight that the diagnosis of uses, which gives access to users’ practices, is a key element to lead to innovative results. Tool designers should choose a design approach depending on the type of system being studied, the resources available, and the objectives set beforehand.

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• Clerino, P., Fargue-Lelièvre, A., Prost, L. et al. Comparison of two contrasted approaches of participatory design: lessons from designing tools for the sustainability assessment of urban agriculture projects. Res Eng Design 37, 8 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00163-025-00464-y 
• Accès au manuscrit de la thèse intitulée "Conception participative d’un outil d’évaluation de la durabilité des projets d’agriculture intra-urbaine professionnelle" soutenue en 2023 : https://pastel.hal.science/tel-04052447