Design Education for Cocreation

—A Third Activity That Belongs Neither of Us—

Abstract

This study explores the emergence of cocreation in the collaboration between design students and community activists. Typically, students visit local activists’ workspaces, being invited into their activities, and engaging in active learning through small-scale collaborations. The research focuses on how students and activists come to accept one another and cocreate their activities through shared experiences. With building dialog and collaboration between them, a mutual sense of reciprocity and trust develops, moving beyond a simple client-provider relationship. This trust becomes a catalyst for both learning and civic activities to start redefining their practices. This study presents this process as a model of cocreation emergence and examines the theoretical framework supporting it. We found cooperativity, a relationship where both parties take responsibility for their involvement, learning, and mutual growth.