TY - JOUR
T1 - When design workshops meet chatbots
T2 - Meaningful participation at scale?
AU - Yang, Stephen
AU - Dortheimer, Jonathan
AU - Sprecher, Aaron
AU - Yang, Qian
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.
PY - 2024/6
Y1 - 2024/6
N2 - This paper explores the potential of chatbots, powered by large language models, as a tool for fostering community participation in architectural and urban design. By taking a hybrid approach to community participation in a real-world mixed-use building project, in which we integrated remote chatbot engagements with face-to-face workshops, we explored the potential for a hybrid approach to scaling up the reach of participation while ensuring that such participation is meaningful, genuine, and empowering. Our findings suggest that a hybrid approach amplified the strengths and mitigated the shortcomings of the two methods. The chatbot was effective in sustaining the length of participation, broadening the reach of participation, and creating a personalized environment for introspection. Meanwhile, the face-to-face workshops still played a crucial role in bolstering community ties and trust. This research contributes to understanding chatbots’ strengths and weaknesses in participatory processes, both within spatial design and beyond. In addition, it informs future explorations of participatory processes that span different spatial-temporal configurations.
AB - This paper explores the potential of chatbots, powered by large language models, as a tool for fostering community participation in architectural and urban design. By taking a hybrid approach to community participation in a real-world mixed-use building project, in which we integrated remote chatbot engagements with face-to-face workshops, we explored the potential for a hybrid approach to scaling up the reach of participation while ensuring that such participation is meaningful, genuine, and empowering. Our findings suggest that a hybrid approach amplified the strengths and mitigated the shortcomings of the two methods. The chatbot was effective in sustaining the length of participation, broadening the reach of participation, and creating a personalized environment for introspection. Meanwhile, the face-to-face workshops still played a crucial role in bolstering community ties and trust. This research contributes to understanding chatbots’ strengths and weaknesses in participatory processes, both within spatial design and beyond. In addition, it informs future explorations of participatory processes that span different spatial-temporal configurations.
KW - Artificial intelligence
KW - chatbot
KW - community participation
KW - large language models
KW - natural language processing
KW - participatory design
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85195153898&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/14780771241253440
DO - 10.1177/14780771241253440
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AN - SCOPUS:85195153898
SN - 1478-0771
VL - 22
SP - 216
EP - 237
JO - International Journal of Architectural Computing
JF - International Journal of Architectural Computing
IS - 2
ER -