School of Social and Political Sciences - Research Publications

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    The rise of public sector innovation labs: experiments in design thinking for policy
    McGann, M ; Blomkamp, E ; Lewis, JM (SPRINGER, 2018-09)
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    When design meets power: Design thinking, public sector innovation and the politics of policymaking
    Lewis, J ; McGann, M ; Blomkamp, E (Policy Press, 2019)
    Responding to the need for innovation, governments have begun experimenting with ‘design thinking’ approaches to reframe policy issues and generate and test new policy solutions. This paper examines what is new about design thinking and compares this to rational and participatory approaches to policymaking, highlighting the difference between their logics, foundations and the basis on which they ‘speak truth to power’. It then examines the impact of design thinking on policymaking in practice, using the example of public sector innovation (PSI) labs. The paper concludes that design thinking, when it comes in contact with power and politics, faces significant challenges, but that there are opportunities for design thinking and policymaking to work better together.