Conference article

While empathy is often hailed as a central aspect of service design, there is a growing acknowledgement of the risks associated with an over-reliance on empathy in design processes. As such, there is increasing recognition of the need to integrate lived experience—the direct, first-hand perception of a relevant situation, condition, or identity in an everyday context. This paper reviews existing literature related to empathy and lived experience in co-creation, with particular attention to the associated risks of amplifying one over the other. From this literature, we highlight two different manifestations of the relationship between empathy and lived experience: “I—It” and “I—Thou”. We build an understanding of the interdependence of empathy and lived experience and argue for an integration of both to enable reciprocal co-creation. To advance the existing discussion, we highlight a number of important directions for future research in this area.

empathy, lived experience, co-creation, service design