Design methodology revolving around direct engagement with “users” to develop understanding of their needs. Not necessarily HCI-related, but that's where you see it most.
IDEO definition and Field Guide
"Human-centered design" is generally used interchangeably
Criticism
User-centered design, while it accomplishes the significant feat of moving focus off of service providers, remains a relatively narrow frame for thinking about design.
In Design as Participation, Kevin Slavin writes about considering not just the system being designed, but the systems that system interacts with. There are participants in those broader systems who may never be users but whose lives can nonetheless be powerfully affected, and it is often impossible to find a “center” of any social system.
Shaowen Bardzell’s Feminist HCI criticizes the concept of “human-centered” design as unworkably universalist, advocating instead a pluralist approach to design that foregrounds questions of cultural difference and specific local needs.
The Design Justice Network advocates for a broader set of principles aimed explicitly at equity and justice rather than simply “user experience” and presents some case studies in emerging practices.
It’s time to retire the term “user”