Abstract
This paper explores how institutional design can embed design thinking into public governance through the Taiwan’s Design Movement for Public in Taiwan. Initiated in 2023, the initiative integrates a two- stage open call mechanism, a multi-stakeholder co-creation platform, and design-oriented workflows that enable government agencies to reframe challenges, engage interdisciplinary teams, and implement context-specific spatial interventions. Drawing on preliminary field insights from transformation cases across Taiwan, the study explores how small-scale public works can serve as testbeds for policy translation, inter-agency collaboration, and procedural innovation. The findings suggest that by shifting design upstream—from downstream execution to early-stage problem definition—governments can foster adaptive capacity and institutional trust. This transition reflects an emerging governance logic that moves beyond user-centered service delivery toward a humanity- centered paradigm grounded in ethical leadership, long-term resilience, and systemic learning.
Keywords
Design-led governance; Institutional innovation; Public-sector co-creation; Spatial transformation
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.871
Citation
Chen, L., Yang, Y., Ai, S.,and Chang, C.(2025) Institutional Design in Practice: Strategies and Insights from the Design Movement for Public, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.871
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 7 - Service Design for Public Services and Policies
Institutional Design in Practice: Strategies and Insights from the Design Movement for Public
This paper explores how institutional design can embed design thinking into public governance through the Taiwan’s Design Movement for Public in Taiwan. Initiated in 2023, the initiative integrates a two- stage open call mechanism, a multi-stakeholder co-creation platform, and design-oriented workflows that enable government agencies to reframe challenges, engage interdisciplinary teams, and implement context-specific spatial interventions. Drawing on preliminary field insights from transformation cases across Taiwan, the study explores how small-scale public works can serve as testbeds for policy translation, inter-agency collaboration, and procedural innovation. The findings suggest that by shifting design upstream—from downstream execution to early-stage problem definition—governments can foster adaptive capacity and institutional trust. This transition reflects an emerging governance logic that moves beyond user-centered service delivery toward a humanity- centered paradigm grounded in ethical leadership, long-term resilience, and systemic learning.