Seoul Design
International Forum
서울디자인국제포럼

Impact and evaluation in designing social innovation

What is the most important agenda in social innovation design? This island metaphor (image) is useful to think about designing. This metaphor helps us to pay attention to both the visible things at the surface, like design products, materials, methods and technologies, and also the invisible things under the water, like values, behaviours, mindsets and worldviews. Designing is a way to make what is invisible under the water, visible. For designing that pursues social outcomes, it is very important to pay attention to people’s values, behaviours, mindsets and worldviews under the water, and undertake designing that materalises what people regard as valuable outcomes for their social well-being. When designing social innovation, this also means listening to local communities and residents, and understanding what matters to them that may be invisible, under the water, and collaborating with them to materialize those values as outcome of designing. There are various tools, methods and approaches in design that are used to achieve those social outcomes together.

Universal Design welfare facilities meet with the system / Cases in Norway and Australia

Universal Design has been used for a very long time and has been implemented as part of Seoul's design policy to create an urban environment that is safe and convenient for all citizens, regardless of gender, age, nationality and disability. But it is still difficult for citizens to feel it directly or to fully popularize it within the remit of our daily lives. At this point, we need to think about what strategies the Seoul Metropolitan Government should use in relation to its policies, understand how some countries, like Norway and Australia, understand "different" through the UD system, and look at examples where Seoul can choose to apply UD in the future, especially in relation to important issues regarding welfare services, facilities and space. 1. Origins of Universal Design Universal Design is design for everyone. Its scope is wide-ranging, from products, architecture, environment, services, the urban environment and social institutional improvement, which should be easy to use regardless of age, gender, nationality or disability. Universal in the dictionary sense can be interpreted as universal or all, and it also contains the concept of planning and designing products, buildings and environments from the beginning to make them available to everyone. Universal Design was initially designed as a standard for people with disabilities and the elderly but over time, the scope of its necessity expanded as it gradually targeted a larger number of people. The concept of UD is seen as a concept of life-span design or trans-generational design which goes far beyond the concepts of the barrier-free design, accessible design, and adaptable design of the past.

[2023 Seoul International Design Forum] Visited the 'Yes! Kids Zone' Designed by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Experienced Public Design!

Yes! Kids Zone is a space designed to address the growing problems of obesity, depression, and lethargy among adolescents who have limited opportunities for physical activity due to their academic-oriented lifestyle. Yes! Kids Zone is located in Hanti Park and the surrounding school routes, and is located right in front of the Daechi Police Station.

Special Interview: Rachel Cooper

When thinking about Design as a resource for the city, it is important to understand the attributes of Design. Thinking about the Design process and the ability to translate numerous interdependencies into a tangible visions, is very much the value of Design. Many government organisations are looking to Design as a way of creating value, buy helping policy makers rethink policy, around issues such as net zero, health and wellbeing. Design organisations within government should be organised in such a way that they are able to synthsise science social, science and cultural insights, to help policy makers, and citizens co-imagine alternative furture, imagine the implications, benefits of policy and service design. This means Designers at the heart of government in policy labs, insight and foresight units. In terms of creating value one of the areas that design needs to engage with is the notion of value… how does new policy, new services, new urban design contributribute to environmental value and social value. Much work has been undertaken on establishing the natural capital value of enhanceing environments through policy making and design, much less has been done on how to establish social value through Design and quantify and evaluate it. This is the much more complicated area where Design needs to establish a strength.

Special Interview: Jeffrey Shumaker

First of all, I am very happy to hear that the City of Seoul is continuing to emphasize the importance of design. For me, an emphasis on design must mean benefitting the broader public and should include an emphasis on the design of the public realm: the city’s streets, parks, promenades and plazas. Every new private development must give back to the city in some way, and this usually means either expanding or enhancing the public realm. It is an important role that the city plays: to leverage all private development for the public good and ensure that every new building is a good citizen of the city.

Impact of Social Problem Design and Conditions for its Success

In this article, I will first introduce how social problem-solving design has evolved for the last 30 years, and as a result that we should approach social problem-solving design in a way different from the traditional design of a single product. In particular, I will tell how it is important to assess the long-term performance of design, and the need to have a strong link to policy to successfully implement the design.