A case of design-enabled public policy formulation process

Abstract

Governments are increasingly applying design practices to address public challenges. While the study of these practices evidences their utility for designing public services, the specific design activities and their value for policy formulation are rather unclear. To shed light in this direction, this paper presents a case study on the collaboration of LABgobar and SENASA in reforming the Bovine Tuberculosis regulations in Argentina. By analysing the project’s documentation and interviewing project members, this study illustrates design practices that complement traditional policy formulation processes. These practices include methods for problem understanding and reframing, idea generation, and collaborative policy prototyping. Interestingly, these adapt elements coming from multiple disciplines. Despite the potential value of design in policy formulation processes, real adoption remains tied to local -and often small scale- experiments. This paper adds further studies for a more robust understanding of design's contribution to addressing policy challenges.