 The
Government says it wants citizens to get involved. But with
more people belonging to the RSPB than all political parties
put together, the Design Council in partnership with ippr
(Institute for Public Policy Research) has been asking: ‘How
does the state treat people when they do get involved and how
can design make a difference to citizenship?’
To answer these questions, the Design Council and ippr, as
part of an initiative called Touching the State, tracked a
small group of citizens as they voted, undertook jury service
and took part in the new citizenship ceremonies. It also
invited a range of leading politicians, academics and
designers to respond to this research, publishing the findings
and their contributions together in a magazine also called
Touching the State.
The results suggest that, despite initial enthusiasm, most
people find citizen-state encounters to be frustrating or
alienating experiences. One juror, for example, complained
that she felt her time had been totally wasted. Another said
that, despite giving up two weeks of his time, he was never
even thanked.
But the magazine also explores a range of ways, some
modest, some more radical, of improving the way the state
treats citizens when they get involved.
Introducing the magazine, David Blunkett, Home
Secretary, said that government and public services
depend on a partnership with citizens to make things work and
that government needs to ensure that every exchange that
people have with the state is designed with them in mind.
Clive Grinyer, Director of Orange Customer
Experience and a designer, argues that the state can
learn from the commercial sector, which understands ways of
developing effective connections between users and services or
products. Design, he says, can deepen bonds between state and
citizen, and gives citizens a real sense of power.
Dr Stephen Coleman, Professor of e-democracy at
Oxford University, writes that most encounters with
the state are neither touchy nor feely and that the polling
booth is like a confessional without a priest. He argues that
while the state professes to value engagement, the way it in
fact treats citizens shows this is frequently empty rhetoric.
Hilary Cottam, the Design Council’s Director of R&D Unit
RED, who led the project in partnership with Ben Rogers of
ippr, comments: ‘Our findings show that, while there are some
examples of good practice, encounters between the citizen and
the state largely operate in a bubble - one experience is not
connected to another or to citizens’ daily lives. Citizens
begin with enthusiasm but their commitment tends to wane.
‘It is as if the citizen is looking for a deep and
meaningful relationship with the state, but the state sees
them as a chance for a one night stand. The citizen, kissed
once, leaves feeling used and deceived.’
Ben Rogers, Senior Research Fellow at ippr, says: ‘Our
leaders say they want citizens to get active, but too often
our institutions fail to treat citizens as if they matter.
People are willing to do their bit, but only where they are
convinced that they are valued and can make a real
contribution. Yet we found that on many occasions the state
doesn’t even bother with such elementary courtesies as
‘please’ and ‘thank you’. No wonder citizens don’t come back
for more.’
- Ends -
For further media information, please call:
Helen Thompson/Garfield Myrie
Design Council Press Office
020 7420 5286/5273
07977 544 635 |
