What is the value of user participation in Building Design?

User participation

An important question in relation to user participation is, whether genuine participation requires real

influence on decisions about the building project. This has been investigated in relation to a

Norwegian hospital project in Trondheim [Jensø, 1999].
The conclusion was that genuine

participation requires some degree of involvement in decision making. However, even without

involvement in the decision making users can obtain real influence on a project by being part of the

information process.

User participation is not a new phenomenon. It started in the 1960’s as part of the increased focus on

democracy in the workplace. The development in user participation during the last 30 years has been

described by the Swedish researcher Granath [2001] as a change from a power based to a knowledgebased

process. Granath identified three steps in the development of user participation. The first step

had a focus on democratic representation as a parallel to the political system, which in the briefing

process meant that staff representatives became members of building committees. The second step

had a focus on product quality, and in the briefing process this meant that interviews with staff were

carried out by building specialist. The third step is based on staff in the knowledge society being the

most important resource for companies, and an active involvement of staff is a necessity to create

improvements in the work processes.

User participation is of particular importance when a building project is part of an organisational

change process. Another Norwegian research project on the hospital project in Trondheim

investigated the relation between the development of processes in an organisation and the building

process. Klagegg et al [1999] define a so-called “clutch effect” (koblingseffekt) between these

processes. One of the most important elements in creating such a clutch effect it to define an overall

vision for the building project based on the development needs of the organisation. The strategic

briefing is very much aiming at this. Among other elements in creating the clutch effect is

involvement of the users in the building project and creation of a shared understanding of the project

among all participants.

User is a broad term, and it can be useful to distinguish between different groups of users. Both

Barrett & Stanley [1999] and Blyth & Worthington [2001] describe a so-called user gap referring to

users often not being involved in the dialogue with neither top management nor experts in building

planning, because the main dialogue takes place between experts and top managers. However, top

managers can also be regarded as a group of users. In the “democratic” step in the development of

user participation the main users were top managers and elected staff/union representatives. Another

main category of users is the end users, which covers the ordinary employees but can also include

middle managers. A special group of users are internal specialists, who get involved in the building

project because of there special competencies within a specific part of building planning.