Design and radical policy - The polity of design in basic income policy-making

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School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
Ask about the availability of the thesis by sending email to the Aalto University Learning Centre oppimiskeskus@aalto.fi
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P1 OPINNÄYTTEET D 2018 Saarikoski

Authors

Date

2018

Department

Department of Design
Muotoilun laitos

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Collaborative and Industrial Design

Language

en

Pages

66 + 3

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Abstract

The political aspects of design have been acknowledged for some time now, but through the proliferation of service design the question of designers’ role in governance has become more pressing. The when, how and why of design for governance has potential to move from mere implementation and administration to actual policy-making processes. This can happen in various forms both within governing units, as well as outside in the public sphere. This thesis uses basic income as an illustrative and demonstrative example of the relevance and possibilities of design in the realm of governance. Basic income is a term used for policy concepts wherein all or most of the population of a country are paid an unconditional sum of money, usually on a recurring basis. It is currently being experimented by the Finnish government, but is nowhere near a coherent policy, as details and implementation can radically change its political implications. Effects of basic income are also unpredictable, regardless of experiment outcomes. The research for this thesis started off with the aim of gaining an understanding of the current state of basic income debate, and it is outlined in the text. Through the work the main research questions settled on: “in the case of basic income, how is design positioned to contribute to a meaningful and productive development of policy?” and “how can design help citizens address policy concepts such as basic income?”. Where and how design approaches are relevant to intragovernmental policy-making of basic income is presented on a notional level, as design is situational and context specific, and a real world setting of the policy process won’t be clear until the experiment is over. Thus attention is shifted to what design can do to advance citizen participation in furthering basic income discourse and eventually, ability to react to basic income policy-making. Because the subject matter required extensive research, collaborative or participatory design processes were out of the question within the scope of the thesis. As a design outcome, a visualisation, lightly tested and iterated to include a further two part infographic, were created to disseminate the research findings in an approachable manner. The main conclusions of the thesis relate to the need to acknowledge the political nature and the intent of designs. Wording and defining the aims of a service can open them up for scrutiny, questioning, contestation and redefining. Designers should interest themselves in how making intent visible could be implemented.

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Supervisor

Keinonen, Turkka

Thesis advisor

Riquelme, Pablo

Keywords

design for governance, policy-making, political design, visualization, basic income

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-201805312768

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[master] Taiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulu / ARTS