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LinkedIn Newsletter: "Nonclusive by Design" · · 2 min read

Spring Challenge – Can You Photograph Belonging? (#17)

A picnic table with a variety of seating options, with and without backrest, armrest, and seating cutouts. This way, it meets human variation with seating variation.
A picnic table with a variety of seating options, with and without backrest, armrest, and seating cutouts. This way, it meets human variation with seating variation. No sign, no symbol, no announcement, no requirements to meet.

Hi there 👋 It is springtime in Sweden, and we are starting to spend more time outside. I have a challenge for you. The next time you go for a walk, look at the spaces around you, and try to photograph belonging. And if you travel, you naturally pay more attention to the surroundings.

What does, for instance, a place look like when it tells you: you are already expected here? And what does it look like when the message is more like: we'll make room for you, but you're not quite who we originally had in mind?

Here are three examples from previous newsletters to show what I mean, sorted from the strongest to the weakest signal of belonging.

"You are already expected here"

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Figure 1. A picnic table with a variety of seating options, with and without backrest, armrest, and seating cutouts. This way, it meets human variation with seating variation. No sign, no symbol, no announcement, no requirements to meet.

"You are welcome here"

A toilet door with symbols for wheelchair user, man, woman, baby changing.
Figure 2. A toilet door with symbols for wheelchair user, man, woman, and baby changing. Generous, but the mechanism is additive: each symbol is a category someone decided to include.

"You are tolerated here"

A train with a separate compartment for strollers, bikes, luggage, and persons using a wheelchair.
Figure 3. A train with a separate compartment for strollers, luggage, and persons using a wheelchair. You're on the train, but treated as separate and placed in your own compartment.

How You Participate

You might sort things differently from me, and most certainly have other examples than I do. That's the point.

Here’s how you participate:

Take or upload a photo of a space that says something about belonging using this short form. Your contributions are anonymous. Please be mindful of what you photograph.

If enough of you join in, I'll analyse the observations in a follow-up edition, where we can discuss the results together.

I’m looking forward to seeing your photos – Who's in? 😊

Repost = 🫶

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