Conviviality in the city: experience-based spatial design against the segregation of places

Abstract

The article discusses design against segregation in an urban context characterized by diversity. It sets out to understand how individual experiences of urban space can lead to segregation of places between diverse inhabitants. We argue that the introduction of experience-based spatial design that takes note of perceptions and social interactions and their entanglement with the material aspects of space, is needed to tackle the processes where urban amenities and places become segregated. In our search for social and material fabrics that promote meaningful encounters in an urban environment, we combine an experience-based dataset collected among older people and young migrant adults with design-based observations. In our analysis, we utilize the concept of conviviality as a tool to translate experience-based knowledge into tangible information inputs for spatial design. The analysis culminates in the creation of visions that exemplify how experience-based knowledge can be operationalised for designing against segregation.