A Social Design Approach Towards Depolarisation

Abstract

Utrecht’s housing market has entered a toxic polarisation state, marked by dehumanisation and scapegoating. The Netherlands faces a shortage of 400,000 homes, with waiting lists exceeding 11 years and allocation rules remaining opaque. Scarcity breeds conflict: as people compete for basic needs, frustration becomes blame. Starters feel invisible, status holders become scapegoats, and the silent middle—those with nuanced views—feel pressured to pick sides or stay quiet. Public debate amplifies polarisation, drowning out nuance and constructive dispute.
This thesis asks: How can a facilitated shared human experience strengthen the capacity of the silent middle? And can this approach contribute to closing the academic gap in the use of design-led approaches towards a less polarised society.
To tackle this, systematic theory meets the messiness of reality. Polarisation is framed as a dynamic system driven by fear of the unknown, group belonging, and echo chambers. Mapping Utrecht’s housing ecosystem reveals cascading pressures from national refugee quotas through municipal mandates to housing corporation allocations. The system predictably generates scapegoating. Lived experiences capture this: starters navigate “active exhaustion” searching like it is a second job; status holders endure “anxious passivity” with little agency. All groups feel unseen by institutions.
Synthesising Insights from these lived experiences are synthesised into a COM-B behavioural system map, and applying the leverage-point analysis that designing human touchpoints is the highest-impact intervention for social service agencies. This leverage point can transforms the emotional and relational experience of navigating scarcity, giving the silent middle the capacity to hold nuance. It helps them become bridge builders in the polarisation conflict. They bridges the two poles and with that combats further divisions.
The human touchpoint takes the form of a facilitated depolarisation dialogue that fosters the coexistence of multiple truths (pluralism): The Bridge Building Dialogue. Its eight-sectioned flow moves from safety (a ritual suspending social roles) through validation (acknowledging struggles before presenting facts) to dialogue (practising strategic frames and bridging sentences), then to legacy (passing tools to others). Participants leave with practical tools: soft facts that make statistics relatable, strategic frames that redirect blame from individuals to systems, and bridge sentences that shift conversations toward substance. A baton is passed forward as these skills are shared.
Pilot testing suggested measurable shifts in system signals defined in the leverage point theory, indicating that the intervention is activating the intended feedback loops. Expert validation from polarised field experts and sociologists confirmed the theoretical soundness. Stakeholders identified applications in neighbourhood participation, training, and inter-organisational dialogue. Social design practitioners praised it as filling a gap in their toolkit.
This thesis shows that social service design can address toxic polarisation with targeted leverage points. More than just a dialogue, it builds capacity and supports pluralism over forced consensus. This toolkit is created that helps some people navigate polarisation tensions differently. A small step. A replicable framework. A baton to pass forward. Polarisation isn’t solved in 100 days. It gets better through many small steps. This project is proud to be one of them.