Human-centric governance can make Indian cities a better place

As Delhi begins its uneasy experiment with the odd-even car policy, the time is ripe for the government to begin a genuine dialogue with the people of Delhi, in a more creative and constructive manner - a human-centric governance model could be a starting point for such a conversation.

Across the world, governments are taking notice of this process, which promises to solve some of the most complex problems facing mankind.

Ideas for human-centered governance have emerged from design thinking methods that are used for developing products and services that match real needs. Product and service developers who follow design-thinking methods immerse themselves in the collective experiences of the communities they are designing the products and services for in order to build empathy for their way of life.

This helps designers design products and services that fit into the patterns of the lives of the people they are designing for. The ideas come from the people the products and services are being designed for.

Ideo, one of the better-known design thinking organisations, maintains a community platform where it sources ideas from a team of registered members across the world.

Each time it works on a project, its community managers reach out to the community of users, practitioners, students, experts who share ideas and experiences and offer solutions that are discussed, vetted and refined online before being implemented.

Design thinking looks at problems as inspirations that motivate people to look for solutions and come up with innovative ideas that are doable and acceptable to all because the solutions come from people who are facing the problem themselves.

The manner in which various groups of people organised themselves into carpools and created car sharing communities in response to the odd-even plan is a wonderful example of design thinking capabilities. This collective talent for problem solving is what design thinking methods seek to capture and is also at the core of a human-centric governance model.

Our societies are increasingly diverse and the problems are complex. It is impossible for governments to single-handedly solve such complex issues. There needs to be a concerted effort to involve various groups of citizens for solving these problems.

Government programmes and policies need to be efficient, cost-effective, as well as address actual citizen needs and concerns. Almost all of us balk at the idea of interacting with any government agency; how can this experience be improved so that there is real collaboration?

A bad user-experience, for instance, is often identified as a design flaw and focuses on improving the technical aspects; a human-centered design approach would look at the entire process of interaction.

The top-down approach doesn't work any more, neither in business nor in governance. Businesses are realising this; they understand that it is impossible to do everything on their own and they are opening up their systems and processes to their stakeholders, and in many cases, even to competitors for a more collaborative approach towards business growth and development.

This distributes costs and spreads the risks but also helps in crafting a strategy that is consensual and creates more interest, across the board, in taking the process forward.

One of the most interesting examples of this sort of partnership is the Danish government's innovation unit MindLab. It was established in 2002; based in Copenhagen, it has a team of ethnographers, designers and public policy specialists who involve citizens and business in co-designing public solutions.

Initiatives have ranged from managing waste to reducing tensions between inmates.

In Singapore, the Prime Minister's Public Service Division has a design thinking unit whose main agenda is to involve users in redesigning policies and services. In fact, the Singapore government's ministry of manpower and UK government's nudge unit are working together to redesign the process of granting work permits to expats.

This, for instance, is an organisation that improves ballot experience for voters in the United States. Here is a Unilever initiative for building toilets in urban homes in Ghana. There are agencies that are developing tools that encourage people to understand and take part in planning and designing systems that help entire communities, for example see this.

The time for opening up bureaucracies to facilitate co-creation and co-production has come. We are a country of young people with diverse ideas and we should take advantage of this vast resource.

Both the central as well as the Delhi governments have exhibited plenty of initiative for reaching out directly to the people, through various media, yet some of the most serious issues like pollution and waste remain a problem.

Perhaps it is time to listen to what people have to offer as solutions.