Design, social and participatory engagement in communities

This article proposes to reflect on a collective and participatory design action carried out with residents of a favela. The study starts from a design experience involving, agents, local leaders, knowledges, flows and sociabilities in a community in Belo Horizonte. The objective is to point out a critical and political perspective of Design in the sense of its social action. It is based on the concept of Design and autonomy proposed by Arturo Escobar (2016) and on the contributions of Design Anthropology and Participatory Design studies, from authors such as Toni Robertson (2013) and Jesper Simonsen (2014). and other authors such as Tony Fry (2011) and Paulo Freire (1996). The study attract attention of designers who work in communities in contexts of oppression and vulnerability to develop new thoughts and paradigms of responsibility, communality and autonomy.