Summary
In this talk, Arielle Keenan, a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Center for Social Impact and Innovation, shares her insights on the emerging and expanding field of civic design. She reflects on how the community of practitioners has grown over the past decade and the increasing internal acceptance of design principles within government. Arielle emphasizes the importance of recognizing and responsibly wielding power and privilege as designers, while also yielding space to communities. She explores the nuanced roles that designers, community members, and consultants play in today's collaborative projects. Arielle highlights the challenges of working across organizational silos, including with vendors, and stresses the need to create healthy team cultures. Above all, she insists on deepening equity and care in both the processes and outcomes of civic design work to improve social safety nets and generate meaningful impact.
Key Insights
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The civic design field has expanded from a small group into a widespread, international community over the past decade.
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Governments are increasingly adopting internal cultures that understand and respect design principles.
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Designers in civic work hold power and privilege that must be consciously wielded and sometimes yielded to communities.
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Community members are no longer just subjects but active partners and consultants in civic design projects.
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Effective civic design requires navigating inherent conflicts among diverse stakeholders, including cross-silo teams and vendors.
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Building healthy cultures within teams working on civic projects is critical to sustaining long-term impact.
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Civic design is still emergent, and continuous learning is essential, regardless of experience level.
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Impactful civic design deepens equity not only in outcomes but also in the way teams collaborate and operate.
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The complexities of civic design demand skills in negotiation, collaboration, and care across multiple disciplines.
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Integrating design, data, and technology thoughtfully improves social safety nets and public services.
Notable Quotes
"I think we all know no matter if you’re new to this work or you’ve been doing it for years, we’re always still learning."
"When I started, there were a few practitioners in the US, a small community, and now I see this growing network and community of practice."
"I’m regularly pleasantly surprised by not having to explain a lot of the foundational concepts of design when working with others inside government."
"We still have so much more work to do and things to learn."
"We heard a bit about understanding the power and privilege that we have as designers, how to wield it, but also how to yield it to others."
"The roles of who is designing continue to shift—community designing for community, designing with community, and community members becoming consultants."
"We’ll hear about creating healthy cultures and ways of working across many organizational silos, including vendors."
"There’s inherent conflict that will arise when navigating many stakeholders."
"We want to deepen equity and care in how we work, who we do it with, and the output and impact it generates."
"This field is still really emergent and growing momentum nationally and internationally."
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