Life-Centered Design and Intersectionality: Citizen Science and Data Visualization as Entry Points

Europe is calling for an ecological transition (Dewberry, 2018; Boehnert, 2019) able to influence social groups and territories. Life-centered approach is an ethical framework in which life is the ultimate source of value (Orr, 2006) in a process that includes both digital and physical components, social justice and environmental outcomes. Life-centered design is considered by the authors as an approach related to posthuman design (Forlano, 2017) which investigates overcoming the centrality of “humanity” starting, mainly, from two points: • The concept of the Anthropocene leads us to reconsider the nature/culture duality. Some theoretical frameworks, such as critical posthumanism (Braidotti, 2013), propose an alignment of those concepts in a cooperative perspective. • Since the Enlightenment, humanity has referred to humans that often present the same characteristics (Western, white, male, etc.) (Braidotti, 2019). The progressive diffusion of inclusive development frameworks pushes us to rethink this model, assuming diversity as a key element. On this pathway towards a just transition, design is a field that involves humans acting as aggregators of creative practices and facilitating the coevolution of socio-technical aspects of transition phenomena (Geels, 2005). This coevolution is supported by an impulse that comes from the use of data collection techniques for citizen science. Digital tools, such as cheap sensors, are considered non-human actors which can act as mediators (Latour, 2005), affording new ways of social mobilization around knowledge and feeding new epistemologies in citizen science. Life-centered design could integrate different forms of collaborative action with a focus on the design of the “possible” and with emphasis on the responsibility of design (Lotti, 1998; Thackara, 2005). In this process, technologies are at the service of the inclusive socio-economic components, with direct results in new languages of ethical and free-of-bias relationships (Portugali et al., 2012). The aim of this paper is to outline life-centered design through data visualization and citizen science initiatives carried out by the research group in order to activate an intersectional perspective in relation to climate citizens. The objectives of this research are: • To increase diversity and intensity of participation through an intersectional approach. • To address socio-technical aspects of climate change problems through the co-design of accessible tools. • To reduce distance between citizens and academia through tailored communication. Research communication should clarify the implications for individuals who identify themselves in diversified socio-cultural categories (such as age, gender, sexual orientation, education, ethnicity, ability) in order to favor equal participation (Lakomý et al., 2020). Several gaps in this communication process must be considered: cognitive biases, especially in the social network society (Lauwereyns, 2011); data overexposure and “spectacularization”; data extractive approaches and behavioral economy; and the complex perception/reality relationship. Paradigms of this communication will be identified in order to understand which roles and responsibilities of the different target groups influence their ability to deal with climate change challenges.