The ethics of co-design

Figures & data

Table 1. Ethical co-design emerging from legal principles for fair consultation⁸.

Principle of Fair Consultation	Ethical co-design process
‘consultation must be at a time when proposals are still at a formative stage’	Co-design must start before any decision is made
‘the proposer must give sufficient reasons for any proposal to permit of intelligent consideration and response’	Provide sufficient information and skills to co-design
‘adequate time must be given for consideration and response’	Communities must feel comfortable with the timing of the co-design process
‘the product of consultation must be conscientiously taken into account in finalising any statutory proposals’	Communities must have decision-making power
‘the degree of specificity with which, in fairness, the public authority should conduct its consultation exercise may be influenced by the identity of those whom it is consulting’	Consider local identities
‘the demands of fairness are likely to be somewhat higher when an authority contemplates depriving someone of an existing benefit or advantage than when the claimant is a bare applicant for a future benefit’.^9	Collective benefits

Source: author’s elaboration from principles for fair consultation, which come from two cases (cited in Just Space 2017). The first four are from R v Brent London Borough Council, ex p Gunning, [1985], 84 LGR 168. In 2014, on Moseley, R (on the application of) v London Borough of Haringey [2014] UKSC 56, the last two on the table were added.

Just Space. 2017. “Draft Good Practice Guide to Estate Regeneration - Mayor of London. Response by Just Space.” https://justspacelondon.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/js-response-on-estate-regeneration-march-2017.pdf

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