Stabilizing Design Practices in Local Government - Special Issue on Design in and for the Public Sector

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Riley

Design practices are increasingly adopted by governments worldwide, yet persistent barriers have been documented, particularly the gap between design practices and established governmental work practices. Using organizational theory, this study examines how design practices become stabilized long term within local government organizations. Findings show that pragmatic, moral, and cognitive legitimacy develop over time differently by organizational context and needs. Interpretation and legitimization shape the organizational processes and structures created to support these practices, facilitated by continuous stakeholder efforts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Design practices in the public sector

Value of design for policy practices

Barriers to design for policy practices

Delft University of Technology Document Version Final published version Licence CC BY Citation (APA) Kim, A. , van der Bijl-Brouwer, M. , Mulder, I. , & Lloyd, P. (2024) . Stabilizing Design Practices in Local Government. International Journal of Design, 18(3), 45-59 . [https://doi.org/10.57698/v18i3.04](https://doi.org/10.57698/v18i3.04) Important note To cite this publication, please use the final published version (if applicable) . Please check the document version above. Copyright In case the licence states “Dutch Copyright Act (Article 25fa)”, this publication was made available Green Open Access via the TU Delft Institutional Repository pursuant to Dutch Copyright Act (Article 25fa, the Taverne amendment) . This provision does not affect copyright ownership. Unless copyright is transferred by contract or statute, it remains with the copyright holder. Sharing and reuse Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons. Takedown policy Please contact us and provide details if you believe this document breaches copyrights. We will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. This work is downloaded from Delft University of Technology. SPECIAL ISSUE ON DESIGN INAND FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR Stabilizing Design Practices in Local Government Ahmee Kim 1,*, Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer 2, Ingrid Mulder 3, and Peter Lloyd 3 1 Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea 2 Independent Researcher, Delft, The Netherlands 3 Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands Design practices are being increasingly adopted by governments worldwide. Yet, barriers to design practices have been noted. Among the various barriers identified, a recurring theme is the gap between design practices and the established work practices of governments, suggesting that changes are needed on both sides—government organizations and design practices. In this paper, we present a study about how design practices become stabilized in the long term within local government organizations, drawing on organizational theory. The findings reveal that different types of legitimacy for design practices—pragmatic, moral, and cognitive—were shaped over time in different organizations, closely tied to each organization’s context and needs. Moreover, how design practices were interpreted and legitimized within an organization influenced what organizational processes and structures were developed to support them. This study demonstrates that the stabilization of design practices within government organizations is an adaptative process between the organization and design practices. We argue that this process is facilitated by the continuous efforts of design stakeholders in the organization. Keywords – Design for Policy, Embedding Design, Legitimacy, Stabilization, Design Maturity. Relevance to Design Practice – This paper provides insights for designers and organizational leaders to leverage legitimacy along with organizational processes and structures to diffuse design practices within government organizations. Citation: Kim, A., van der Bijl-Brouwer, M., Mulder, I., & Lloyd, P. (2024) . Stabilizing design practices in local government. International Journal of Design, 18(3), 45-59. [https://doi.org/10.57698/v18i3.04](https://doi.org/10.57698/v18i3.04) Introduction Design practices in the public sector are no longer a new trend. Governments worldwide have increasingly adopted design approaches to address problems of public service and policy, a practice that we refer to in the current work as design for policy (Van Buuren et al., 2020) . There are over 100 Public Sector Innovation (PSI) labs that are known to be engaged in design for policy practices worldwide (Apolitical, n.d.) . Thi

FAQs

What problem does the paper address about design practices in government?

It addresses barriers between design practices and established government work practices, highlighting the need for changes on both sides.

How does the study explain long-term stabilization of design practices?

It uses organizational theory to show that different legitimacy types—pragmatic, moral, and cognitive—form over time and influence organizational processes and structures.

Which factors influence whether design practices are supported within an organization?

How design practices are interpreted and legitimized in an organization, shaped by organizational context and needs, determines the processes and structures that emerge.

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Riley