A Study on the Preference of Participatory Design Method for City Brand Design

In city brand design, citizens are increasingly being recognized not merely as passive recipients but as co-creators, and accordingly, the importance of participatory design is being emphasized. To effectively encourage citizen participation, empirical data on citizens? preferred modes of participation is needed; however, research in this area remains insufficient.This study aims to provide foundational data for establishing citizen participation strategies in city brand design by examining the concepts and types of city branding and participatory design, and by reviewing relevant cases. Based on this, eight methods of citizen participation (surveys, interviews, workshops, contests, campaigns, voting, exhibitions, and living labs) were identified. A citizen survey and in-depth interviews were then conducted to analyze preferences for these participation methods.The analysis revealed that respondents preferred surveys and voting the most, while workshops and interviews received the lowest preference due to time demands and psychological burden. This study offers practical baseline data for establishing citizen participation strategies in the city brand design process and anticipates that subsequent research incorporating regional characteristics and demographic variables will lead to the development of a more systematic participatory design model.