Conference article

Changing contexts of society, and increasing expectations and demand for better services by citizens and communities are continually pressing public sector organisations to provide better services with lower costs in the face of economic crises. In order to cope with the challenges facing public sector organisations, innovation and transformation have become fundamental for local government because of its structural and cultural limits. Design is now widely considered as an alternative approach to drive change in the public sector because of its democratic and creative way of working based on human-centred design process. A large number of local governments around the world have been trying to apply and embed design in their organisations in order to modernise service delivery, innovate services and policy-making, and eventually change how they work. The aim of this paper is to present the different journeys towards embedding design within local governments and identify the challenges faced along the journeys using case studies of three local councils in England. In doing so, this paper contributes practical knowledge for designers and non-designers alike who are concerned with embedding design in local government.

service design, design thinking, embedding design, local government, design intervention model, organisational change