Designing for Just and Sustainable Policies in the Space between Institutions and Experimental Government Practices

This track explores design’s role in the making of public policy by examining how it bridges the gap between actors within and outside institutions. Papers for this track advance new knowledge on design's contribution and interplay with policymaking processes and practices through methodological diversity and detailed descriptions of different policy contexts. The contributions discuss specific public initiatives, such as the New European Bauhaus, and general approaches to public sector innovation, like public sector innovation labs, thus ranging from highly contextualized to general views. Further, the works presented expand “design for policy” with perspectives emphasizing co-design, public service design, public organizations' knowledge and engagement capacity, and placemaking. In sum, this track investigates design’s peculiarity as an approach for shaping positive change by fostering practices of collaboration, experimentation, and human-centeredness within institutional fringes and interstices.