Consciously drifting: Exploratory design practices that embrace influences from local community

The practice of Community-Based Co-Design (CBCD) strongly depends on the relationship with local communities. This study draws attention to the encounters and engagement with a local community, often framed as backstage activities in a CBCD, and explores how CBCD practices are shaped through complex and contingent relationships with the local community. In this study, we describe our experiences and reflections from a long-term CBCD practice in a local residential area in Tokyo. Based on the case, we argue for the importance of “consciously drifting,” a design approach that emphasizes the oscillation between passive drifting and active exploration through the entire engagement with local community. Consciously drifting requires a mindset that is open to and ready to respond to new possibilities for designing by actively and positively embracing the influences from a local community throughout the entire engagement with the community.