Caring for the Land and Territorio as a Method for Participatory Design

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Published: Jan 28, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7764/disena.28.Article.6
Keywords:
land-based, participatory design, Latin American ontologies, rural, Europe basado en la tierra, diseño participativo, ontologías latinoamericanas, rural, Europa

Main Article Content

Sergio Bravo-Josephson
Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University
https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2120-9257
Cindy Kohtala
Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7417-0745
Brendon Clark
Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1396-7216
Luis Berríos-Negrón
Umeå School of Architecture, Umeå University

Abstract

Rural communities in Europe that defend land-based practices and livelihoods face pressures to modernize in ways that reproduce a nature‒culture dualism. Design methods informed by Latin American ontologies seek to help communities identify and resist capitalist enclosure, make visible and legitimize local ways of knowing and traditions, and foster learning processes toward autonomy. Here, we report on our experiences in land-oriented, community-led participatory design, making material, communal artifacts in Italy and Spain. The artifacts range from animal stables to bee apiaries. We examine the artifacts and their makings through a lens of territorio (territory) to demonstrate a different land-based reality that resists colonial oppression. In these realities, communities are not mere observers of the changes around them, but they make their own present through the making of artifacts. These relational design methods supporting planetary co-habitability require care-full community-led engagement with the land.

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How to Cite
Bravo-Josephson, S., Kohtala, C., Clark, B., & Berríos-Negrón, L. (2026). Caring for the Land and Territorio as a Method for Participatory Design. Diseña, (28), Article.6. https://doi.org/10.7764/disena.28.Article.6
Issue
No. 28 (2026): The Planetary Condition: Designs, Coexistences, and Care to Reimagine Habitability (1st Issue)
Section
Original Articles (part 1)
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Author Biographies

Sergio Bravo-Josephson, Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University

PhD Candidate at the Institute of Design at Umeå University. He holds an MFA in Interior Architecture and Furniture Design from Konstfack University of Art, Craft and Design, and a post-master’s degree in Architecture and Fine Arts from the Stockholm Royal Academy of Fine Arts. His research interests include practice-based research, community-led design and architecture, participatory design, territorio, social landscapes, and agroecology. Recent publications include “Territorial Art, Design & Architecture” (VIS – Nordic Journal for Artistic Research, Issue 7).

Cindy Kohtala, Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University

Professor in Design for Sustainability at the Institute of Design at Umeå University. She holds a DArts in Art and Design from Aalto University. Her research focuses on community-based design, sustainability materialism, and grassroots activism. Her most recent publications include “Healing through Collective Textile-Making: Crafting Objects, Places, and Communities” (co-authored with L. Yazirlıoğlu and H. Wiltse; NORDES 2025); “Evolving PD Tools Through Iteration: Analyzing Templates Used for Multiple Participatory Renewable Energy Projects” (with G. Kuu-Park and A. Botero; PDC 2024); “Peer Production as Mindful and Responsible Innovation” (with L. Thomas, A. Pistofidou, and P. Troxler; Journal of Innovation Economics & Management, Vol. 43, Issue 1); and “Collaborative Confusion among DIY Makers” (with E. Berglund; Science & Technology Studies, Vol. 33, Issue 2).

Brendon Clark, Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University

Associate Professor in Design Anthropology at the Institute of Design at Umeå University. He holds a PhD in User-Centered Design from the University of Southern Denmark. His research centers on staging relational interventions, improvisation, and emergent socio-material practices. Recent publications include “Reorienting Design Towards a Decolonial Ethos: Exploring Directions for Decolonial Design” (co-authored with N. B. Torretta and J. Redström; Design and Culture, Vol. 16, Issue 3); “Playing With the Elasticity of Hybrid Design Education” (with Y. Fernaeus; Interaction Design and Architecture(s) Journal, Issue 58); and “Improvisational Design Dialogue: Exploring Relational Design Encounters as Means to Dismantle Oppression in Design” (with N. B. Torretta; DRS 2022).

Luis Berríos-Negrón, Umeå School of Architecture, Umeå University

Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at Umeå University. He is an environmental artist and experimental architect working with the forms and forces of global warming. His recent publications include “Tree Stands Between Forest and Plantation: Evolving Practices for Northern Sweden’s Boreal and Industrial Landscapes” (co-authored with C. Redeker and T. Kokins; SPOOL, Vol. 12, Issue 1); “The Golden Spike Is Not the Nuclear Bomb” (in Greenhouse Stories: A Critical Re-Examination of Transparent Microcosms, Onomatopee, 2023); and “Breathtaking Greenhouse Parastructures” (in Agropoetics Reader, The Institute for Endotic Research, 2020).

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