Towards impact design for public services : to assess impact is to care is to design is to assess impact… In Teixeira (original) (raw)
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Public Participation: Processes and Outcomes in the Planning and Design of Public Libraries
University of Michigan Dissertation, 2017
Public projects, such as city halls, schools, and public libraries, are designed everyday by architects working in a conventional mode of practice. Such architectural work for the public can also be considered the domain of architects working in a community design mode of practice, which, historically, has been labeled an alternative mode of practice. This is an interesting area of overlap where the project context, something very public, would fit a community design practice emphasizing a public, participatory process, but due to scale and complexity, is usually done by firms operating through a conventional practice emphasizing the design of the building (product), but less so the building’s response to the socio-cultural context (outcome). This overlap in modes of practice has led to this dissertation’s use of a two-phase research design utilizing public libraries as the vehicle to investigate public participation through conventional practice. The goals of the first phase were to establish: 1) which participatory processes were employed; and 2) at what points in the design process they occurred. A survey questionnaire was used to identify the range of participatory processes employed by architects in 162 public library projects within the United States, completed between July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2012. Data from 60 public library projects was sufficient to conduct analyses using both multidimensional scaling (MDS) and cluster analysis to establish a typological analysis of the architect-submitted, planning and design processes. The second phase of research entailed in-depth explanatory case studies of four public library projects, selected from the typological analysis. The four libraries (located in Vestavia Hills, AL; Boerne, TX; Silver Lake, CA; and Washington, D.C.) were designed by conventional practice firms, but examined through the lens of community design practice. The goals of this second phase were: 1) to explore how the various types of participatory processes impacted both the physical design and the cultural outcomes of each case study project; and 2) to provide guidance for the use of participatory processes in the design of public libraries as well as other building types. Findings from the first phase of this research reveal that most public participation occurs in relatively formal or controlled formats such as architect presentations, building committees, and Q+A sessions. These participatory formats are utilized primarily in the earliest phases of design (i.e. preliminary design, programming, and design development) and largely for consultative purposes as opposed to either informative or decision-making purposes. Findings from the second phase of this research demonstrate that architects working in conventional practices are, to differing degrees, designing successful library buildings – as physical products. However, they are less consistently successful in creating buildings that effectively engage the socio-cultural contexts within which their buildings are situated. This suggests that architects will need: 1) to employ more effective tools to gain a better understanding of the socio-cultural context in which their design projects are embedded; and 2) to craft more reflective public participation processes in order to meet the needs of that context. Recommendations for more effective engagement with the public in public building projects are offered, with a special focus on architects employed in conventional practice.
Embedding design capacity in public organistions: Evaluation by design for public service
Swedish Design Research Journal, 2016
The paper reflects about the need to introduce and develop approaches and tools for public services evaluation. Starting from the acknowledgment that investments in public services has dramatically increased over the last decade, we could state that they must also respond to new varieties of societal challenges and rising demands coming from service users. This pressure makes a strong push upon innovation considering that, if services must be designed to meet the complex needs of users, they also must reach a high rate of delivering cost efficiency.This article proposes an approach based on qualitative and quantitative measurements throughout the whole service design process in which service evaluation may represent a tool for value creation and a driver for innovation in public sector.Considering the emerging interest on evaluating design and innovation (OECD, 2010; European Commission, 2012) the authors try to explore existing evaluation methods for services in public sector, in o...
2016
What are the most important conditions necessary for a design-led approach to innovation or transformation to flourish in an organization? This paper introduces and discusses three ‘just right’ conditions for design to achieve the desired impact in the context of public and third sector projects, where third sector refers to a broad range of community and volunteer groups. The paper draws on a six-month Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project, aimed at identifying and mapping the impact and value of design in public and third sector organizations. Our research insights are derived from six case studies that were co-created with the project participants of service innovation projects. The case studies were selected based on three criteria: 1) an acknowledged value that design-led approaches have brought to the project; 2) access to a triangulated base of stakeholders: service users, service commissioners and service designers; 3) projects that cover a range of sect...
Building the Design Laboratory in a Public Cultural Organisation
Nordes, 2011
This paper presents the research objectives of a design research Ph.D project in the Municipality of Copenhagen. The aim of the project is to explore and develop an open platform of participatory inquiry and dialogue, within the organizational setting of three local cultural administration units (LCAU), consisting of public libraries and cultural centers at three different local sites in Copenhagen.
For design to have a positive impact on the lives of people in our complex and changing world, it must work towards social and environmentally sustainable outcomes for business and the public sector. Many initiatives to demonstrate the value and role of design in this changing context have been launched, acting as experimental ecosystems for Designers to work and explore within, for example the ‘Designing for Services’ project at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (Kimbell and Seidel, 2008). The biggest and most recent initiative undertaken in the UK to date has been the Design Council’s, Designs of the Time (Dott 07) programme, which took place in North East England between 2005 and 2007 (Thackara, 2007). Dott 07 was an extensive demonstrator of design in the context of designing and developing sustainable public sector services. The public design commission projects tackled issues in the areas of health, education, food, movement and energy. Each project utilised design-led interventions to involve communities in developing public sector services, and in doing so, sought to leave behind a legacy of people-centred and sustainable outcomes. The Dott 07 initiative presents an important opportunity to critically reflect on the value and potential of design in public life. This paper describes research within a current PhD programme, which aims to understand the contribution that demonstrator initiatives, such as Dott 07, can have on the embryonic discipline of service design. It seeks to do this though identifying key aspects of design methodology and practice utilised in the Dott 07 projects...
Interaction Design and Architecture(s) Journal - IxD&A, 2021
Promoting social innovations in libraries requires a new approach to designing innovation programs. In order to provide the effective learning program on social innovations for libraries, the Research through Design methodology was selected as a tool for setting the program for the needs of participants as well as for providing scalable approach to designing innovation programs aimed at increasing the innovation competencies of librarians. Design thinking and the design process are a suitable basis for incubating new socially innovative services. However, the design process needs to include the subsequent phases of the social innovation life cycle, such as demonstrating the impact, its successful presentation or scaling. For a higher social impact, it is necessary to strengthen the importance of participatory community network mapping as a key input in solving community problems and the role and future direction of the library. When designing, it is necessary to integrate all these components into one whole, and when facilitating, it is necessary to pay attention to all these parts. Four runs of the incubation program are described as well as their results, outputs, and learnings from the whole designing process. Gasparini's concepts of openness, dialogical spaces and temporality have proven to be applicable also for designing the incubation programs for public libraries. Within the incubation programs attention should be paid both to user-oriented and inner organizational social innovations.
Librarians as Designers: Case Studies on Improvement of Library Services
2016
This small book is a result of our desire to show how service design works in selected libraries by means of case studies. It is certainly not an overview of everything that is going on in the field of design thinking in Czech libraries. The aim of the examples of use, which are described in this book, is to serve as a source of inspiration and encouragement to those who think about the needs of users in their own libraries.
The recent development of digital services for citizens has been the opportunity, in several countries, to rethink and simplify the processes on which the public administration is based. A new approach based on innovative methods, such as agile and lean startup, together with the construction of a coherent national identity system, has led to the development of meaningful experiences such as those of the Government Digital Service in Great Britain and dell’United States Digital Service. The Italia Login project seeks to introduce for the first time programmatically within the Italian public administration the experience of Design Thinking and Design Service. The open source and collaborative models are an opportunity for rethinking public service communication in a context that offers a renewed sharing of intent between public administrators and designers for public benefit
Valuing Design: Mapping design impact and value in six public & third sector projects
2015
What aspects of a design-led approach are valued? Cross-disciplinary Approach Challenge preconceptions Non-solutioneering Creating a safe space to innovate Mind-set Feeling comfortable with complexity Risk taking Role Critical friend Design-specific Design models, roles & processes Distilling & synthesising through visualisation Outputs that are tangible and open to critique Imagineering futures through stories and artefacts Building capacity & skills Through transfer of tools, processes and skills Culture change Openness to ideas Permission to challenge status quo Permission to innovate Piloting new ways of working New business models Generating new income streams Increased engagement Creation of more effective forms of consultation Continued engagement with creative methods Semi-structured interviews with the design team, the project team and service users for the 6 case studies.