Audun is a PhD fellow at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, researching how design practices for fostering adaptability within public service systems. Before starting his PhD, he worked for eight years as a clinical psychologist and manager in systemic therapies for marginalized families within the Norwegian child welfare system. He teaches and supervises systemic practices for students and professionals in both design and psychology.

Project Description

In many parts of the world, public service systems like health care and family support play a crucial role in fostering equitable societies. Traditionally, these systems have been designed based on industrial logics that assume individuals are solitary, rational actors. However, such assumptions are increasingly critiqued for limiting the adaptability of public service systems amid rapidly changing and diverse societies. There is a growing call to redesign public service systems based on relational assumptions that emphasize human connections, shifting from merely providing services to enabling actors to collectively and intentionally shape systems that are meaningful to them.

Despite the public sector's adoption of service design to foster innovation, practical approaches that empower affected actors to engage in ongoing, collective redesign remain scarce—especially in complex settings with diverse interests and values. This doctoral research aims to develop service design practices that enhance adaptability in public service systems. Employing a research-by-design approach, the study integrates service ecosystem design with relational sociology and social constructionism. It proposes that reflexivity—actors' awareness of shared norms, assumptions, and beliefs—is essential for their engagement in intentional adaptation.

The research draws on three interlinked design explorations conducted over 1.5 years within the Norwegian child welfare system, involving a total of 900 participants. These explorations included a broad range of experiments centered around: 1) a dialogue lab with social workers, 2) an interactive theatre event, and 3) co-design workshops where various system actors engaged in creating prototypes. Preliminary findings indicate that fostering reflexive processes that lead to more adaptable welfare systems requires attending to embodied, relational, and dialogic interactions among actors.

This thesis contributes to public service design discourse by presenting an actionable design practice aimed at increasing adaptability in public service systems. It advances a relational ontology for service design, emphasizing people's embodied experiences and interconnectedness, thereby challenging existing assumptions that depict individuals as rational, solitary actors. Thus, the research suggests a new direction for public service design, focusing on creating more adaptive public service systems that are intentionally and continuously redesigned by those affected.