Study Architecture 
ProPEL 
Author(s): Cathi Ho Schar
Today, governments must address the demand for solutions to complex and multi-dimensional urban and regional problems, greater citizen engagement, participatory democracy, innovative leadership practices, and organizational change. According to the Observatory for Public Sector Innovation’s (OPSI) global review, “Governments and their partners are undergoing transformation to overcome unprecedented challenges and seize vast opportunities”. This need for change has opened up a new space for design and innovation in government also fueled by the “growing interest in evidence-based policy making and the application of “design thinking” to policy-making”. However most of this integration of design-thinking and design has focused a round service and information design rather than environmental design, which forces the question: What is the role of the environmental design disciplines in this transformation? This paper explores various past and emerging models of design and government partnerships to provide a context for envisioning this future role, including a new hybrid model for university and government alignment presented by the newly established University of Hawai’i Community Design Center. Finally, this paper will end with a summary of the interactive session held at the 2019 ASCA Less Talk More Action conference that asked attendees to apply this inquiry to the design of an Office of Design within their academic or governmental institutions.
https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.FALL.19.16
Volume Editors
Amy Larimer, Deborah Berke, Diana Lin, Drew Krafcik, John Barton & Sunil Bald
ISBN
978-1-944214-24-1
