PhD defence G. (Geert) Brinkman

Below is a brief summary of the dissertation:

As public issues escalate in complexity and urgency, there is a growing awareness that traditional ways of working are no longer sufficient to effectively address them. Consequently, public organizations around the world are increasingly exploring alternatives. In this context, design practices from the creative sector have gained significant interest.

However, public organizations are generally not used to nor set up for these design practices and typically face considerable difficulties enacting them. It usually requires all kinds of makeshift measures to realize one-off successes at best and disappointment at worst. More often than not, the potential of these practices in addressing public issues remains far from fully realized.

This doctoral thesis explores how this untapped potential can be realized. Drawing on a multiple case study of design projects, a single case study of a Dutch municipality with an established track record of working with design, and four focus groups with professionals working in this field, it identifies the strategic efforts through which design practices from the creative sector are enabled in public sector contexts.

The findings provide new insights into how practitioners both outside and within public organizations can harness these practices to address public issues. They highlight that advancing public sector design requires more than adopting new methods; it requires cultivating the relational and institutional conditions for this too.

Ultimately, this calls for a new practice of public sector design, enacted as a form of transformative governance so that it contributes to the ongoing advancement of a vital public sector.