Can participatory design reach ‘forgotten people’ in Oslo?

In this fourth episode, postdoctoral researcher Anna Ulrikke Andersen interviews Jack Hughes and Else Abrahamsen from MakersHub Oslo. This Oslo-based architectural practice focuses on participatory processes, resulting in sustainable design projects that promote integration, skill sharing and pride over public space in the local community. They often work with marginalised groups, designing for what they consider to be “the forgotten people and the forgotten space”. Many of their projects are based in the borough of Gamle Oslo, where Andersen’s Disobedient Buildings fieldwork takes place. What are some of the challenges this borough faces? How can participatory-led methods of design counteract the utopian ideas of modernity?