Stakeholder Transformation
Foundation for integrative design
Expanding analyses to the district scale highlights the relevance of broader regional elements to a site. For example, the moor at the Rhön’s edge may seem distant but holds socio-cultural and environmental significance.
The district’s interaction with the moor—through tourism, institutions, and local knowledge—can inform site development and education. Similarly, the Fulda River’s renaturalization affects water quality, habitat expansion, and species migration, reinforcing the importance of regional interconnections.
By analyzing existing and potential influences across wider regions, designs can become more accepted by humans, flora, fauna, and water. A multi-scale approach—from region to city to site—ensures projects remain locally integrated, culturally sensitive, and ecologically regenerative without being disruptive.
Stakeholder and Actor to Protagonist(s)
Changing the narrative
Traditionally, the term “stakeholder” refers to human interest groups directly invested in a project, holding personal stakes or attachments—whether emotional, financial, or social. These attachments define their involvement in the development process. In architectural and design frameworks, both bottom-up and top-down approaches recognize the participation of stakeholders, aiming to include those with significant interest but minimal influence over projects, ensuring their voices are heard and their civil contributions recognized.
However, outcomes of these participatory processes often deviate from initial inputs, influenced by regulations, financial constraints, and architectural considerations. The general direction in design aims to consider all voices, striving for a more human-centered approach.
In forward-thinking, sustainable concepts advocating for coexistence with our environment, stakeholders actively engage with more-than-human actors. These actors encompass the entirety of our environment, including birds, climate, soil, temperature, moisture, insects, animals, rivers, trees, green facades, etc. Traditionally, projects center around human stakeholders, with more-than-human actors often added as afterthoughts, resulting in minimal integration with the built environment.
Narrative constructs in stories often feature a protagonist—the central element around which the story unfolds, supported by side characters with their unique stories and interests, similar to how stakeholders are influenced by more-than-human actors. This dynamic prompts a question: What if this narrative is changed?
This work proposes a radical rethinking of this duality:
First, stakeholders and more-than-human actors are assigned equal value and voice within the stakeholder matrix.
Secondly, instead of a single focus, multiple protagonists—human, flora, fauna, and water—are featured equivalently, each holding equal importance and agency in the design process. They assume their new status as main protagonists.
By imagining a narrative of multiple main protagonists, the story of a project becomes a collective tale with symbiotic relationships, intricate connections, and enhanced potential for resilient and sustainable design.