Service Design for the Desirable Cities – Smart Living through Design
Keynote Session 2 "Service Design for the Desirable Cities – Smart Living through Design"
Birgit Mager (President of Service Design Network)
Until the end of the last century, design had a strong focus on the material environment. In cities, design was concerned with urban planning, architecture, street furniture, signage - to name but a few. This has changed fundamentally in this century. Designers are shaping and innovating public services. They are leading digital transformation. They co-create with citizens and public servants for the benefit of living in desirable cities. Birgit Mager's presentation will show how governments around the world are putting design on their strategic agendas and how service design is shaping these processes, using concrete examples to provide impetus and inspiration.
Birgit Mager President of Service Design Network Birgit Mager is co-founder and president of the International Service Design Network and editor-in-chief of Touchpoint, the international journal of service design. Since 1995, Birgit Mager has held the first European professorship for “Service Design” at the University of Applied Sciences in Cologne, Germany, and since then has continuously developed the field of Service Design in theory, methodology and practice. Her numerous lectures, publications and projects have strongly supported the implementation of a new understanding of the economic, ecological and social function of design in the field of services. In 2020 she received the Sir Misha Black Award for outstanding contributions to design education. Since 2024 she is a visiting professor and member of the advisory board at the Sapienza University of Rome in the PhD program Service Design and Public Sector. |
