URGES ex–post. What Metrics, Indicators, and Impacts on Well–Being?

In the last fifteen years, the number of participatory design actions has increased, leading to a proliferation of studies, examples, and concrete applications. However, the evaluation of impacts, outcomes, and long–term project results remains a poorly developed and monitored area of research. One reason this occurs is that many projects do not include a follow–up and verification period in their timeline. That is, not only do they often fail to implement impact verification processes immediately after project completion, but they also rarely address subsequent phases with regular and coherent follow–up actions over the years. These projects kickstart potential mechanisms that may progress or fail without anyone knowing why 1. The main challenges are related to measuring impact: what should be measured? The intangible, cultural impacts of participatory design, such as strengthening communities or improving social cohesion, may elude traditional metrics. What possible indicators and measurement methods exist? Can evaluation criteria be standardized? Or, as with actions, are metrics always to be tailored to specific cases? This limits the comparability of results and the adoption of standardized practices between projects. Perhaps a framework for evaluation could be developed that incorporates both qualitative and quantitative metrics, taking into account well–being indicators that are both individual and collective, as well as quantitative indicators where possible.