Abstract
This paper draws on the learnings from three practice-based design research projects that were carried out between 2013 and 2018. It aims at contributing to a deeper understanding of new agencies, roles and responsibilities of design – especially in the context of civil society and as a political actor that faces new complexities within the digital transformation discourses. As ICT increasingly act as mediator for novel types of communication, interaction and social and political participation, the projects have developed experimental and contextualized tools for civic engagement that provide insights on how a political understanding of design could shape local practices that foster the motivation for and the possibilities of democratic engagement. In this paper we will start by introducing the concept of civic design, and its impact on debates around political agency and participation in design. We will then move on to focus on the impact of technologies for civic engagement and by drawing on our learning from the use of the social living lab model, we will present some conclusions that might provide new avenues for a critical conceptualization of civic and social design. We argue that it is precisely in conditions of complex structural crises, technology-induced transformation processes and uncertain forecasting conditions, that our disciplinary agency can play a decisive role in understanding the significance of digital infrastructures as socio-political practices.