Value-Inclusive Design for Socially Equitable Communities: Discovering knowledge through community-based participatory research – uncovering what is valued

The future of development in peri-urban/rural areas and our cities depends on how we respond to the challenges of today. Due to population growth and migration pressure, two of the most pressing problems of urbanization in rural communities are poverty and environmental degradation (Marshall et al., 2009). To counteract the problems of urbanization, community planning and co-creation through value-inclusive design are proposed as essential to developing healthy and sustainable towns and cities. Value-inclusive design is defined by design principles promoting health and dignity, interactive settings for quality life, and inclusive green cities. These principles, underscored by shared values for social equity – Identity, Placation, Accessibility, and Empathy (Sarabi, 2022), frame activities that promote economic development and protect the environment. Given that rural areas may have greater access to land and other resources, integrating food production with the development of the built environment is easily imagined as a step towards positive and socially equitable urbanization, and poverty mitigation. This research tests the idea by preparing case studies comparing competition proposals generated by 20 international teams participating in the Wageningen University and Research’s Urban Greenhouse Challenge #3, the social edition, to a new value- inclusive design framework for social equity. It is predicted that planning using value-inclusive design as proposed by this study can include food production solutions that not only generate food but mobilize a community’s quality of life and heritage. This type of approach using available land and green space can serve as a prototype for community planning in both rural communities and the urbanization of cities.