Designing for relay-tional co-becoming

This paper explores how the relay conversation approach can facilitate designerly co-becoming in rural communities working towards emerging futures. Building on relational perspectives in design research, we engage with the idea that participation in design is not merely about including diverse voices but about fostering conditions for mutual becoming. We examine how this approach unfolds through ongoing engagements and situated moments, where designers and communities navigate uncertainty and collectively shape new potentials. Rather than treating design as a predefined problem-solving activity, the relay conversation approach works with the evolving dynamics of place, social relations, and ecological entanglements. Through autoethnographic reflections, we discuss how these engagements challenge conventional roles of designers and require a heightened sensitivity to the situated nature of futures-in-the-making. We suggest that this approach not only supports new ways of designing together but also nurtures conditions for co-becoming—where designers, participants, and worlds emerge together in perpetual reciprocal transformation, often revealed through subtle yet significant moments of sensitivity.