Critique and post-critique in social innovation projects: Between speculation and realism

This paper discusses notions of critique, post-critique, speculation and realism, as it reflects through a practise based design research project, which worked as part of a bigger public innovation program with the involvement of citizens in the design of a new library and cultural house under construction. Specifically, the paper sets out to challenge what seems to be a dichotomous “either-or” thinking in the descriptions and analyses of practise based design research projects. Accounts of design research that operates in overlapping landscapes of academia, public sector and business are often depicted as too solution-orientated and therefore not reflexive, too engaged and therefore not analytical or too pragmatic and therefore not speculative. Such dichotomies, the paper argues, tend to obscure the “in-discipline” of much contemporary constructive design research. The paper seeks to problematize this over-simplification of what it means to engage in critical knowledge work, as it draws on recent discussions in design research, science and technology studies (STS) and feminist techno science (FTS).