Co-Designing Spaces for Public Service

Abstract

Services of public interest concern the design of spaces and services in their most systemic and transformative conception, offering access to the essential functions of everyday life, and developing open solutions for a social collective understood as a ‘public’. Public services have been changing in recent years due to a digitalisation of services and tools. At the same time as there is a great deal of discussion on these issues, involving different opinions and continuous evolutions, the space as a container for these services is less subject to reflection and not considered for any evolution in design. Through the project of the requalification of the Salone Anagrafico of the Chamber of Commerce in Milan, or the Hall of the Future project, a research experiment is described, which highlights the importance of spatial heritage, and which can be replicated in other contexts, regardless of usage.

Keywords

• participatory design
• co-design
• design for social innovation
• spatial and service design
• public sector