Public defence, Design, MA María Ferreira

Title of the thesis: Design and governance: Political dimensions of public sector innovation labs in Latin America

Thesis defender: María Ferreira
Opponent: Prof. Suzan Boztepe, Lund University, Sweden
Custos: Prof. Andrea Botero,Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture

As governments around the world are confronting pressing complex social and environmental challenges, public-sector innovation labs (PSI labs) have emerged as experimental institutional forms to rethink public services and policymaking. Consisting of multidisciplinary teams using collaborative design methods and experimentation, these labs are often linked to discourses that promise ambitious institutional transformation and innovation in the public sector.

This dissertation examines design in the public sector through PSI labs from a governance perspective, focusing on how their work is shaped by the interplay with existing governing structures and processes. The findings indicate how PSI labs juggle between the expectations of the public-innovation discourse, and the constraints from their sociopolitical context. The thesis highlights the importance of the everyday work of lab practitioners, particularly how they navigate constraints by ‘picking battles’, while creating opportunities and sustaining their practices through their interactions.

The thesis shows how, generally, PSI labs introduce modest change relative to the promises of the public-innovation discourse. However, such change is nonetheless important as PSI labs are developing new governing relationships and thus are shaping governance. Through this, the thesis frames design in the public sector as an inherently political and relational practice.

Keywords: design in the public sector, PSI labs, governance, political dimensions

Thesis available for public display 7 days prior to the defence at Aalto University's public display page. 

Contact information: maria.ferreiralitowtschenko@aalto.fi