Argues that the central goal of policy design is effectiveness.

Public policy can be considered a design science. It involves identifying relevant problems, selecting instruments to address the problem, developing institutions for managing the intervention, and creating means of assessing the design. Policy design has become an increasingly challenging task, given the emergence of numerous ‘wicked’ and complex problems. Much of policy design has adopted a technocratic and engineering approach, but there is an emerging literature that builds on a more collaborative and prospective approach to design. This book will discuss these issues in policy design and present alternative approaches to design.

Design for Policy is the first publication to chart the emergence of collaborative design approaches to innovation in public policy. Drawing on contributions from a range of the world’s leading academics, design practitioners and public managers, it provides a rich, detailed analysis of design as a tool for addressing public problems and capturing opportunities for achieving better and more efficient societal outcomes. In his introduction, Christian Bason suggests that design may offer a fundamental reinvention of the art and craft of policy making for the twenty-first century. From challenging current problem spaces to driving the creative quest for new solutions and shaping the physical and virtual artefacts of policy implementation, design holds a significant yet largely unexplored potential. The book is structured in three main sections, covering the global context of the rise of design for policy, in-depth case studies of the application of design to policy making, and a guide to concrete design tools for policy intent, insight, ideation and implementation. The summary chapter lays out a future agenda for design in government, suggesting how to position design more firmly on the public policy stage. Design for Policy is intended as a resource for leaders and scholars in government departments, public service organizations and institutions, schools of design and public management, think tanks and consultancies that wish to understand and use design as a tool for public sector reform and innovation.

Uniting theoretical bases and advancements in practice, the Routledge Handbook of Policy Design brings together leading experts in the academic field of policy design in a pioneering effort of scholarship. Each chapter provides a multi-topic overview of the state of knowledge on how, why, where or when policies are designed and how such designs can be improved. These experts address how a new emphasis on effective policy design has re-emerged ​in public policy studies in recent years ​and ​clarify the role of historical policy decisions, policy capacities and government intentions in promoting a design orientation towards ​policy formulation and policy-making more generally. They examine many previously unexplored aspects of policy designs and designing activities, which focus upon analyzing and improving the sets of policy tools adopted by governments to correct policy problems. Ranging from the fundamentals of policy design and its place in greater policy studies, to new questions regarding policy design content and ​effectiveness, to contemporary design trends such as the use of digital tools and big data, the Routledge Handbook of Policy Design is a comprehensive reference for students and scholars of public policy, public administration and public management, government and business.

The Policy Design Primer is a concise and practical introduction to the principles and elements of policy design in contemporary governance. Guiding students through the study of the instruments used by governments in carrying out their tasks, adapting to, and altering their environments, this book: Examines the range of substantive and procedural policy instruments that together comprise the toolbox from which governments select specific tools expected to resolve policy problems, Considers the principles behind the selection and use of specific types of instruments in contemporary government, Addresses the issues of instrument mixes and their (re)design in a discussion of the future research agenda of policy design and Discusses several current trends in instrument use often linked to factors such as globalization and the increasingly networked nature of modern society. This readily digestible and informative book provides a comprehensive overview of this essential component of modern governance, featuring helpful definitions of key concepts and further reading. This book is essential reading for all students of public policy, administration and management as well as more broadly for relevant courses in health, social welfare, environment, development and local government, in addition to those managers and practitioners involved in Executive Education and policy design work on the ground.

This collection of readings examines the tools used by today's government to achieve legitimacy, effectiveness, and accountability. The contributors examine the "instrument choice" perspective on government and public policy over the past two decades, moving beyond the preoccupation with deregulation and efficiency to trace the complex relationships between instrument choices and governance. Readers are encouraged to consider factors in the design of complex mixes, such as issues of redundancy, context, the rule of law and accountability. These latter factors are especially central in today's world to the design and implementation of effective instrument choices by governments and, ultimately, to good governance. The authors conclude that instrument choice itself is integral to government and governance.

The field of policy studies has always been interested in analyzing and improving the sets of policy tools adopted by governments to correct policy problems, and better understanding and improving processes of policy analysis and policy formulation in order to do so. Past studies have helped clarify the role of historical processes, policy capacities and design intentions in affecting policy formulation processes, and more recently in understanding how the bundling of multiple policy elements together to meet policy goals can be better understood and done. While this work has progressed, however, the discussion of what goals policy designs should serve remains disjointed. Here it is argued that a central goal, in fact, 'the' central goal, of policy design is effectiveness. Effectiveness serves as the basic goal of any design, upon which is built other goals such as efficiency or equity.