Design Thinking for Social Issues

In Design Thinking for Social Innovation coauthors Tim Brown & Jocelyn Wyatt highlight the success of design thinking in creating breakthrough solutions and products to help solve social problems. Design thinking is described as a deeply human process, and is thought of in three overlapping spaces: inspiration, ideation and implementation. Inspiration is where the problem is identified, ideation is the creation of possible solutions to the problem, and implementation is where the solution gets executed in the real world. While detailing each “space” of design thinking, the authors continuously stress the importance of empathy by taking a human centered approach towards problem solving, which I thought was particularly worth noting as society traditionally places a high emphasis in rationalism and efficiency when it comes to creating solutions.

When reading the article about design thinking, I was reminded of a podcast I had listened to by Invisibilia [1] about how Denmark implemented an “Aarhus model” in response to the mass exodus of Muslim teenagers that had gone to Syria to help build the new Islamic state. The Denmark crime prevention police implemented an unconventional yet successful program to combat radicalization - instead of threatening to take away passports and shut down mosques like many of the other European countries, the crime prevention officers Link and Aarslev spent time trying to understand the root cause of why the teens were running away despite the wealth of benefits Denmark offered them. They talked to mosque and family members and discovered that “the need to join ISIS stems from feelings of exclusion in Danish society” [2], and so the Aarhus model’s focus is to help radicalized youth to feel included. They made it clear to the teens that already traveled to Syria that it was safe to come back home, and that if they did they would receive help with reintegrating back into society. The program effectively decreased the number of Danish citizens leaving to Syria – while 31 Danish citizens traveled to Syria in 2013, only one traveled in 2015 [3]. Much like design thinking, the foundation of the Aarhus Model is deeply rooted in empathy and understanding.

With rising racial tensions in America, as well as terrorism fears fueled by the upcoming elections, I wonder if design thinking can be extended to provide solutions to delicate social issues? In addition, I wonder if empathy can be taught and built upon to produce more of the “T-shaped” person that Tim Brown and Jocelyn Wyatt believe are needed to work on design thinking projects.

[1] How a Danish town stopped young muslims turn away from ISIS, http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/07/15/485900076/how-a-danish-town-helped-young-muslims-turn-away-from-isis

[2] The Aarhus Model: How Denmark Prevents Jihad Fighters http://borgenproject.org/aarhus-model-denmark-prevents-jihad-fighters/

[3] Denmark De-Radicalization program aims to reintegrate not condemn http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/denmark-de-radicalization-n355346