**8. Discussion and conclusion**

Developing an instrument for end-users design interaction and participation requires experts' contribution to identifying the design problem, developing the task, and the instrument. These are evident in any design thinking approach. Experts play a significant role in determining the problem by empathising with evidence-based input through a survey or other recorded resources. They also need to synchronise the design task with the design problem of the context and the instrument. At the beginning of selecting the computational instrument, the experts rely on self-evaluative techniques to empathise with users' possible interaction. In cases, they test with participants to assess the system. Above, the three examples have not informed about those initial testing elaborately; however, the framework indicates the scope of possible ways of initial pre-testing before inviting the non-experts in the creative engagement. Besides, to develop any computeraided design instrument, the experts also need to know how the computer system can deliver an interface for first-time users. Usually, finding the design problem is the designers' (both architects and urban designers) tasks; however, to deliver a computer-aided instrument, they need to understand the working process of a computer system. All the investigations show that, in this digital era, designers now need to understand the computer tools and their scope of communication to involve non-experts in the design process. The studies also demonstrate how virtual artefacts can influence users' perceptual understanding in the VE. Generally, the nature of design decisions depends on the interface types and their quality of visual communication with the users. The users decide on their design action against the instant visual feedback they get in the VE. If the interface is a 2D desktop, in that case, the interaction happens in a non-immersive environment, where the perceptual understanding of the 3D artefacts remains as scalar objects of the representation. In the immersive virtual environment, the users get a perceptual experience of the design content in full-scale. That means, whether the interface 2D or 3D, it is evident that interfaces offer easy manoeuvring systems to the non-experts. In addition, the collaborative design setup allows them to act as a design team to take decisions as co-designers. In conclusion, for all cases, the design thinking framework follows the steps of a defining problem with a participatory mindset, selecting a tool with relevance to the design task, testing the instrument and designing

### *Design Thinking for Computer-Aided Co-Design in Architecture and Urban Design DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98938*

the engagement pattern. These are the principles for any design thinking research, where the experts with computer-aided design generation in architecture and urban design would make the process inclusive and informed.

Disrupted digital technology is already changing the way architecture is designed and built. Now, the architecture of industrialization has replaced by the architecture of information. These profound changes are primarily centred on the foundations of architectural practices, such as representation, information management, and virtuality. Besides, the revival of social reformation encourages the inclusion of participatory design approach in the architectural design process. To continue a design process without creating repetition and to avoid homogeneity and recurrence of the same, one needs to reinvent the design continuity through the spontaneous participation of people. It means design iteration can be spontaneous if people are engaged in the design process. The recent advancement in the computing power of digital technology supports the continuity of design iteration, which possesses representation techniques for non-experts to involve in the design process. Such technology-driven design representation and iteration tools allow non-experts to participate actively in design ideation and generation stages. It reduces the power gap between non-experts and experts and changes the role of experts from designers to system designers.
