Browsing by Author "Ferreira Litowtschenko, Maria"
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Item Assessing design approaches' political role in the public sector(INDERSCIENCE PUBLISHERS, 2022-07-08) Vaz, Federico; Ferreira Litowtschenko, Maria; Department of Design; NODUS; Loughborough UniversityGovernments worldwide are increasingly adopting design tools and methods to explore new ways of public policy-making and governance. Such design approaches are often portrayed as politically neutral. Building on contemporary research that argues the contrary, this paper proposes a framework for making their political dimension explicit by distinguishing between the artefacts, techniques, and discourses that compose them. This paper is based on an interactive session held at DRS2018, where design practitioners and academics piloted the proposed framework and follow-up interviews with some of the participants. The analysis revealed the recurrence of certain themes, in particular the reinforcement of existing power relations and the encroachment of market logics into the public sector through the introduction of design approaches. This, we argue, shows how the proposed framework contributes to the awareness of the political implications of design tools and methods used in the public sector by making their underlying political conceptions visible.Item Design for Sustainability Transformations: A ‘Deep Leverage Points’ Research Agenda for the (Post-)pandemic Context(Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, 2021-04-09) Gaziulusoy, Idil; Veselova, Emilija; Hodson, Elise; Berglund, Eeva; Erdogan Öztekin, Elif; Houtbeckers, Eeva; Hernberg, Hella; Jalas, Mikko; Fodor, Kata; Ferreira Litowtschenko, Maria; Department of Design; Sustainability in Business; NODUSThis position paper presents a ‘prototype’ research agenda for design for sustainability transformations (DfST) in the (post-)pandemic context. COVID-19 has made visible vulnerabilities, structural dysfunctions, inequalities and injustices across health, environmental, social, economic, provisional and political systems. In response to the crisis, rapid, adaptive, technological and social innovations have started to emerge across all levels of society, opening up a multiplicity of ‘alternative futures.’ This is an opportune time to address long-standing and urgent sustainability challenges in ways that move beyond the ineffective and business-as-usual approaches of ecological modernism. The authors used a co-creative process to identify ‘weak signals’ relevant to sustainability transformations. In alignment with the deep leverage points framework, the identified weak signals are presented under two main headings: first, social structures and institutions; and second, values, goals and worldviews. The deep leverage points form the basis of a research agenda on how DfST could contribute to sustainability transformations right now and in the longer-term.Item Experimental governance?: The emergence of public sector innovation labs in Latin America(TAYLOR & FRANCIS, 2020-05-07) Ferreira Litowtschenko, Maria; Botero, Andrea; Department of Design; Inuse; NODUSPublic sector innovation labs are becoming an increasingly visible instrument in public sector innovation and experimentation. Proponents of these labs claim they can play an important role in addressing pressing social challenges, changing government structures and thereby shaping ideas and practices of future governance. Whilst some research has been carried out on public innovation labs, the focus of inquiry has been primarily on the emergence, models and activities of labs in Europe and North America. This paper attempts to contribute to this growing body of research by bringing forth some of the particularities of this phenomenon as it emerges in Latin America. Using as starting point three experimental interests identified in the available literature, namely increasing flexibilization of public procedures, developing methods for citizen engagement and experimental development of public policies, the paper presents insights and observations from a study of ten public sector innovation labs in Latin America. In particular, our focus is on how these interests are confronted with different realities and therefore what kind of challenges the labs face. Experimentation in Latin America seems to concern not only flexibilization, engagement and public policies; it also includes juggling with the tensions arising from budgetary constraints, the need to weave networks of regional labs to collaborate and finally the need to align their agendas to those of other institutions, while being accountable to different levels of society. This places Latin American labs in a different light than their European and North American counterparts.Item Exploring digital tools for public administration: A case study of a GIS tool for a Costa Rican municipality(2019) Vargas Contreras, Maritere; Ferreira Litowtschenko, Maria; Department of Design; Muotoilun laitos; Taiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulu; School of Arts, Design and Architecture; Jalas, MikkoRecent developments of digital technologies offer new opportunities for improving public administration with digital tools, and with the pressing hype for digitalization, governments are expected to follow this trend. Even though digital tools offer many novel possibilities, radical improvement of government through them is yet to be seen. The literature recognizes that improving public administration through digital technologies is more of an organizational challenge than a technical one, and it is recommended to have a deep contextual understanding as part of the process to effectively introduce digital tools in public organizations. This thesis studies the phenomenon of digital tools in public administration. The aim is to explore the introduction of a digital tool in a local government by presenting a case study involving a digital tool aimed at improving local government’s responsiveness to citizens’ needs. In particular, it studies the case of Yo Alcalde in the municipality of Curridabat, Costa Rica. Yo Alcalde allows citizens to report maintenance issues in the city directly to the municipal officials through a mobile application. Using a location-based system for making the reports, Yo Alcalde collects them as geographical data and visualises them in common map for all the users of the application. The intention with Yo Alcalde is to facilitate a new channel for communication with the municipality and over all improve operations for responding to their issues. The research is based on a collaboration done with the municipality of Curribat in 2016. Based on the field notes and interviews, this thesis explores Yo Alcalde within the municipal context. During the fieldwork it became evident that improving the municipality's responsiveness was far more complex than developing a digital interface for citizens’ to input their issues. Based on this preliminary insight, the research objective is to explore further the effects of introducing Yo Alcalde on the municipality. By reflecting on qualitative data gathered at the municipality, the analysis will provide a holistic perspective on the relationship between the municipality’s processes, people and structure, and the tool itself. While exploring the data, the thesis will map challenges, constraints and opportunities for the organization adopting Yo Alcalde with the aim to shed light on the complexity entailed in public sector digital projects.Item Exploring the role of design attitude in reshaping decision-making practices of public governance(2020) Jain, Nehal; Ferreira Litowtschenko, Maria; muo; Taiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulu; School of Arts, Design and Architecture; Julier, GuyThis master’s thesis explores the concept of design attitude in the context of decision-making in public governance. The problems that today’s governance system faces are wicked, complex, highly networked having ripple effects on each other creating new problems. Governance system’s age-old working culture suited for linear approaches to problem-solving fails to address such complexities effectively. Only recently, design is being hailed as the panacea for all societal problems. Recognising the opportunity to explore a fairly recent and under-researched concept of design attitude, this thesis is yet another design contribution to bringing change in governance systems, with an attitudinal approach to design. Due to the extent of its influence on shaping cultures, systemic behaviours and ultimately people’s lives, decision-making practice within public governance is chosen as the context for the study of design attitude concept. The thesis adopts a transdisciplinary approach to bridge knowledge from the disciplines of design, social psychology, and political science, using attitude, Strategic Design, decision-making, governance and systems literature to build a theoretical base for the design attitude concept. I use Project Amaka, a student project that I was a part of, to illustrate this concept’s manifestation in the context of decision-making in public governance using a real case. Project Amaka is a Problem Based Learning (PBL) East Africa, Uganda, project done as part of the Sustainable Global Technologies (SGT) course 2020, in collaboration with the students from Makerere University. The project proposes a self-reliant approach to improve water and sanitation in Katanga, an informal settlement in Kampala, all encompassed within a vision of transforming Katanga from surviving to thriving community. Empowering the community about water and sanitation conditions is not enough for Katanga to thrive as it relies on the local government for more systemic changes. Therefore, to support the vision, this thesis takes a step back and zooms into the local government decision-making practices concerning Katanga’s water and sanitation issues. Using empirical research methods of semi-structured interviews, questionnaire, and study of existing policy documents, complemented by findings from the literature review I develop and propose the Strategic Design Attitude framework with 6 overarching attitude themes: 1) collective agency, 2) action-oriented work approach, 3) reflective practice, 4) approach to complexity, 5) impactful communication and 6) infinite loop of the decision-making process. Based on design attitude concept, strategic design attitude framework presents an approach to enable a self-evolving local governance system in Katanga by identifying attitude’s influence on decision-making practices and recognise the importance of attitudes’ role in informing systemic changes. The thesis presents itself as a starting point of conversation in exploring the concept of design attitude as a contribution of design in redesigning governance system. Change is not a mechanical process and it is not possible to change attitudes, cultures and systems completely. The key to facilitate change is to become more aware of the attitude’s role in informing decision-making practices as a way to initiate change in the governance system.Item Taking Positions: Institutions and individuals in public sector design(2019) Ferreira Litowtschenko, Maria; Berglund, Eeva; Department of Design; NODUSIf recent decades have witnessed an expanded notion of design, here we explore such trends through the changing roles of public innovation labs and individuals within them. Recognizing the work of design scholarship in seeking to understand this influential and fast-changing field, we focus not so much on institutional form as on individuals doing design-led work in the public sector, whether or not they think of their work in terms of design. The paper draws on initial findings from ongoing work involving interviews and engagements with such labs in Latin America. We suggest approaching urban innovation labs with more attention to individuals within them, could helpfully illuminate the wider purposes and social consequences of innovation labs themselves.