How can cultural interventions give meaningful expression to democracy, cultural heritage and inclusion? Karin Johansson’s doctoral thesis at Uppsala University, Design for Societal Values: Co-Designing Cultural Interventions with Societal Value Stakeholders, examines how these values are negotiated and translated into design through collaboration with municipalities, museums, NGOs and other organisations working towards societal goals.
Johansson’s thesis defence took place on 2 October 2026. The research was supervised by Larpocracy members Jon Back and Annika Waern, together with Lina Eklund.
The thesis investigates the co-design of cultural interventions in public settings, a field encompassing experiences such as museum exhibits and interactive public artworks, with implications for participatory formats such as larp. It asks how collaborators identify the values that matter to them, work through their meanings and give them tangible form.
Using a Research through Design approach, Johansson followed three design projects over several years, from their beginnings through to implementation. The analysis centres on three sensitising constructs: Value Elicitation, Value Translation and Value Manifestation. These provide ways to examine how values are articulated, interpreted through design decisions, and expressed in the resulting interventions.
The findings emphasise the importance of relationships. Stakeholders brought substantial knowledge of societal values, although they were less familiar with interaction design practices. Sustained informal conversations, alongside creative, playful and reflective methods, helped build trust and enabled complex discussions. As sketches and prototypes developed, these conversations became more specific, while further value considerations continued to emerge—even after implementation.
As the abstract explains, designing for societal values requires “continuous deliberation and interpretative work”. The thesis therefore positions designers as mediators who help collaborators explore and negotiate values throughout a project.
For Larpocracy, a particularly relevant contribution concerns larp as a method for futuring and perspective-taking. One included article explores this area and is co-authored with Larpocracy members Sarah Lynne Bowman, Annika Waern, and Jon Back. The thesis also considers how larp can support deliberative design discussions.
These connections are valuable for our work on role-playing and democratic participation. They invite consideration of how larp might help collaborators explore possible futures, encounter different perspectives and discuss the values shaping a shared design. They also underline the importance of examining how democratic and inclusive ambitions are negotiated throughout the creation of participatory experiences.
We congratulate Karin on this contribution to research on co-design, cultural interventions and societal values.
Thesis reference
Johansson, K. (2026). Design for Societal Values: Co-Designing Cultural Interventions with Societal Value Stakeholders [PhD dissertation, Uppsala University, Department of Informatics and Media].