Intermediation in Design: Designers as Intermediaries

This chapter connects the lines of thought presented in the previous chapters—both theoretically and empirically grounded—with current issues, challenges, and opportunities in design research and practice. Design practice often seeks to engage communities and institutional partners with designers working as or with intermediaries. This chapter argues for the merits of a more explicit engagement with intermediation as part of the toolbox of design practice. The chapter discusses some of the utility of intermediation skills and techniques and calls for intermediation to be better embedded and integrated in design practices.