"Nothing About Us Without Us" – Rethinking Participatory Research Methodologies

A summary of the 7th Planocosmo International Conference Special Session (Bandung, 2025), organized and moderated by Dr. Akino Tahir of Just Transition Indonesia.

The phrase 'nothing about us without us' carries the idea that people should have a voice in the decision-making process of policies and programs that affect them. But what does participation mean when trust in democratic systems is declining?

This special session explored this question in the context of 'minority' and displaced populations. The panel framed participation as co-creation: a process that "aims to reconfigure voice... to enable people to tell their story" and "generates shared understandings and dialogue through creative approaches".

Panelist Insights on Co-Creation:

• Crossroad Co-Creation: Culturally-Aware Disaster Dilemmas

  Risye Dwi Yani shared a game-based, discussion-centric simulation developed to enhance community resilience to volcanic eruptions. The "Crossroad" game, adapted from Japan for use in Cirebon and Bali, surfaces real-world dilemmas (e.g., evacuating when custom counsels staying). The game opens relaxed but deep conversations, revealing overlooked cultural constraints on evacuation and aid.

• Navigating Manufactured, False, and Critical Hope

  Dr. Staci Martin presented research on hope and despair within refugee communities. The work distinguishes between "manufactured hope" (externally imposed), "false hope" (unrealistic expectations), and "critical hope" (rooted in lived experience). Case work from Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya highlighted the need for informal communication channels and co-created inquiry spaces to make critical hope actionable.

• Tools for Cross-Community Collaboration: Design-Led Transition Living Lab

  Dr. Maria Lujan Escalante and Dr. Akino Tahir showcased their work developing tools for meaningful engagement with displaced people in London, UK, and Cisarua-Bogor, Indonesia. Central to their approach is "building the language first" to create shared frameworks and trust. The lab treats displaced people as expert consultants, not beneficiaries, and reframes future work from "plans" to "healing imagination now".

  
  

Key Takeaways for Practitioners:

The session concluded that for community engagement to be ethical, it must follow several key principles:

• Participation must be an act of co-creation, not a procedural formality. The toolkit must adapt to the people, not the reverse.

• Local knowledge is the architecture of any successful intervention, not merely an "input."

• Planners must move from "hope traps" to critical hope by aligning project intentions with tangible means and community decision-making power.

• Care, embodiment, and joy are not luxuries but essential conditions for truthful dialogue and safe experimentation, especially with marginalized groups.