Designing Public Policy: Nature’s Design Lab – Crafting Policies and Change in the Wild

What it is about

You explore how public policy can function as a creative shaping process and how natural systems can inspire it. In a seminar-style format with on-site sessions and a one-day outdoor workshop, you co-develop policy ideas that are responsible to interests that go beyond humans.

What you will be able to do

• Understand what public policy is and how it is created
• Apply creative methods for shaping policy
• Derive inspiration from nature and translate it into insights
• Create a concise policy brief
• Visualize a design-oriented process flow

What the module consists of

• Seminar (on-site at TUM main campus)Introductory discussions, prompts from instructors and joint development of the fundamentals
• Preparation (self-study)approx. 8 hours of mandatory reading to prepare for the first session
• Designmethods-Session (on-site at TUM main campus)Introduction to design-based methods, practical exercises as preparation for the workshop
• Outdoor Workshop (outing, full day)Immersive, practice-oriented teamwork in nature to generate inspiration and develop policy ideas
• Final presentationPresentation of the design process and the developed policy idea, plus reflection on learning

Teaching method

• Experiential learningenables active application of design methods in real environments
• Reading and short lecturesconveys fundamental knowledge and methodological inputs
• Reflection and discussionfosters exchange and interdisciplinarity
• Teamwork and prototyping in the fieldpractical testing and visualization of processes and ideas