Open connect menu
Twitter Linkedin-in Instagram
Go to Home Page

Projects

People
Approach
Services
Projects
New York City Collaborative Design Partnership

New York City Collaborative Design Partnership

How can New York City residents more meaningfully drive City policy?

Partners & Funders

New York City Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity
Institute for State and Local Governance at the Research Foundation of the City University of New York

The Project

PPL is partnered with the City of New York’s Service Design Studio and the Institute for State and Local Governance (ISLG) at the Research Foundation of the City University of New York to augment the City’s capacity to use human-centered methods.

The Outcome

PPL, the Service Design Studio, and ISLG are currently carrying out a variety of collaborative policy- and service-design projects, as well as related capacity-building and knowledge-sharing efforts.
Capacity Building

New York City Collaborative Design Partnership

How can New York City residents more meaningfully drive City policy?

Partners & Funders

New York City Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity
Institute for State and Local Governance at the Research Foundation of the City University of New York

The Project

PPL is partnered with the City of New York’s Service Design Studio and the Institute for State and Local Governance (ISLG) at the Research Foundation of the City University of New York to augment the City’s capacity to use human-centered methods.

The Outcome

PPL, the Service Design Studio, and ISLG are currently carrying out a variety of collaborative policy- and service-design projects, as well as related capacity-building and knowledge-sharing efforts.

Project Background

The City of New York has made a commitment, through its investment in the Service Design Studio in the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity (NYC Opportunity), to improve policy making and service delivery through the use of human-centered research, design, evaluation, and implementation methods. 

As part of this investment, PPL is partnering with NYC Opportunity and ISLG to add to the capacity and capabilities of the Service Design Studio and ISLG by delivering three areas of work:

  • collaborative design projects that leverage ethnographic research, human-centered design, rapid prototyping, and formative evaluation to improve policies and services and generate positive outcomes for New Yorkers,
  • capacity-building offerings aimed at generating awareness of and competencies around the application of human-centered policy and service design in New York City government and with ISLG partners, and
  • knowledge-sharing efforts, intended both to transfer successful methods and tools across City teams and partners using human-centered approaches and also potentially to enhance public, government, and industry awareness of and participation with the City’s human-centered efforts.

See below for further details on each of these work streams.

0
+

City Staff Engaged

0

Workshops Held

Collaborative Design Projects

We’re working with NYCO and ISLG to identify and facilitate design projects in New York City using our human-centered approach to qualitative research; policy, service, and product design; rapid prototyping, piloting, and formative evaluation; and systems change to support scaled implementation.

As the first collaborative design project between PPL, NYCO, and ISLG, we’re partnering with the city’s asylum support and emergency management agencies to improve reticketing uptake amongst asylum seekers, with the goal of ultimately connecting asylum seekers to communities outside of the city that can offer long-term support.

Reticketing Improvements for Asylum Seekers

Our first collaborative design project is focused on improving reticketing uptake amongst asylum seekers.

Capacity-Building Offerings

To engage residents in government decisions, our public employees need to be equipped to facilitate meaningful and thoughtful engagements. We’re working to build the capacity of City staff to use human-centered methods.

Capacity Building Workshops
We’re hosting a series of workshops for City staff, aimed at building capacity to incorporate human-centered design and research into government services. So far, we’ve held workshops focused on:

  • How to Engage the Public in Participatory Activities
  • How to Translate Data into Actionable Insights

Interested in attending one of our workshops? Sign up for our newsletter to get notified about the next one!

Office Hours
We’re co-hosting weekly virtual office hours for City employees. These office hours are a great opportunity to meet with designers to get light-touch consulting on a project or idea, or just learn more about how design is applicable to the work of City agencies.

Interested in attending an office hour session? Sign up here!

Knowledge-Sharing Efforts

External organizations and internal City teams have been using human-centered design approaches  for more than a decade. However, there have been limited opportunities to share best practices or project outputs with one another. 

We’re working to  develop mechanisms for cross-organization and cross-agency knowledge sharing. Our goal is to support the coordinated application of human-centered learnings and the cross-utilization of project tools, findings, and materials.

Civic Design Forums 
Every quarter we co-host a session for teams across the City, inclusive of both City agencies and non-City partner organizations, who are applying human-centered methods. During these forums, we discuss how to apply best practices and human-centered strategies in government contexts.

So far, we’ve hosted forums on plain-language writing and basic communication design principles. Stay in the loop on our next Civic Design Forum by subscribing to our newsletter. 

Collaborative Newsletter
To keep internal City teams, external organizations, and the general public informed about the human-centered efforts under this collaboration, we’ll be sending out a quarterly newsletter with all the latest offerings and recaps of recent projects. Subscribe here!

Civic Design Forum

Our first Civic Design Forum focused on the importance of plain-language writing and basic communication design principles.

PPL is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization.

info@publicpolicylab.org
+1 646 535 6535

20 Jay Street, Suite 203

Brooklyn, NY 11201

Go to Home Page
People
Approach
Services
Projects
Connect

Menu

People

Our Story

Working at PPL

Our Team

Approach

Our Mission

Our Partners

Our Clients

Our Methods

Our Results

Services

Our Capabilities

Our Project Model

Projects

Project Library

Case Studies

Get in Touch

Interested in partnering with us?

We'd love to hear more. Send us a note and we'll be in touch.

Join Us

We’re always open to talking to folks with the skills, experience, and passion to join our team. Share your interest with us through our general application.

To hear about future job announcements, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn or subscribe to our newsletter.

Follow Along

Enter your email below to subscribe to our occasional newsletter.

Wondering what you’ve missed?


Check out our

newsletter archive.

Social Media

Donate

The Public Policy Lab is a tax-exempt

501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Donate now to support our work; your

gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.