Recipes for Systemic Change - Helsinki Design Lab

Afterword139We must deeply and imaginatively research the pastand present in order to project into the future. As a practicalcapability, with real clients attached, design is drawn toworking from this position.Yet we must also suspend disbelief that the present isnecessarily the only guide to the future, or that existingmethods will continue to serve us well. It is design’s abilityto project new configurations that sets it apart from manyanalytical methods. In fact, I share the authors’ assertion thatthe complex systemic challenges we face today actually necessitateframeworks that are intrinsically capable of generatingand testing entirely new approaches, and learning from theirintroduction to existing structures. Again, design is inherentlydrawn to working from this position too.For Sitra, strategic design enables us to explore this delicatecombination of pragmatism with imagination: researchthrough prototyping, learning from execution, communicationthrough tangible projects, strategic intent with iterativeaction, systems thinking and human-centredness, all underscoredby an optimistic belief in progressive change.Having folded strategic design into our organization asa core capability, Sitra is committed to continuing to bothdevelop this work and share its story. In this spirit, I encourageyou to also join the story at helsinkidesignlab.org, andshare your own experiences. The map is still developingaround us, and we rely as much on the dispatches from ourfriends in the growing international network around HelsinkiDesign Lab as on our own efforts.Government is too important for it to fail through inertia,or lack of attention, of insight, of belief. In fact, we hopethat strategic design can help shed new light on the value ofpublic life, and help reorient public institutions, services andstructures towards the future with optimism. We owe it toourselves to sketch out this story together.Mikko KosonenPresident, SitraHelsinki, July 2011