Design Capability Building in City Government

Government Innovation Labs are characterized by a direct connection with the public sector and created to tackle complex challenges that more traditional governmental structures seek to resolve. They are often working on a project basis with internal staff members to design innovative governmental services and policies, but they are also on a longer-term mission of changing the way governments operate. This longer term mission is what this study is interested in. Design capability building, in particular, is the focus of this paper. The way design capability building is approached in government context has been critiqued to be too focused on design methods and tools taught through workshops or short classes. The understanding of how we might increase design capability building in government context is limited. This calls into question how Government Innovation Labs may continue to increase design capability in city government. This paper aims at (1) highlighting the multiple meanings of design capability building on the basis of an existing theoretical model proposed by Lisa Malmberg which combines three modes of interpretation of design capability building: awareness of design, design resources and enabling organisational structures for design practice: (2) contributing to the service design literature with two state of the art case studies – Civic Service Design Studio in New York City and Innovationshuset in Copenhagen – which exemplify how all three modes of interpreting design capability building play out in practice; (3) reflecting on the role of Government Innovation Labs in building design capability.