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Design Thinking
PAS QuickNotes 90For the planning profession, design thinking represents a creative, humanities-based approach to the physical environment, complementing more data-driven, social-science approaches. -
Design Thinking
PAS QuickNotes 90by: Thomas Fisher January 01, 2021This edition of PAS QuickNotes defines design thinking and suggests how planners can use this five-step process to help improve systems, processes, and policies.Nonmember price$10.00APA members & PAS subscribers$0.00 -
Design Thinking: The Guidebook
This guide aims to help local officials in Bhutan use design thinking to improve public services. -
Why Design Thinking Works
Harvard Business Review, September 2018by: Jeanne LiedtkaThis article briefly explores how design thinking can help organizations overcome common barriers to innovation. -
Design Thinking Toolkit
This toolkit includes links to descriptions of design thinking methods, workshops, and other activities as well as tools and templates. -
Design Thinking IDEO
2019by: IDEOThis website provides a general audience introduction to the concept of design thinking from the perspective of an influential design firm. -
Design Thinking Handbook
May 2017by: Eli WooleryThis guide presents a five-step design thinking framework to help designers better understand their end users and create lasting and meaningful change. -
Design Thinking in Planning
Design thinking is a human-centered design approach that uses an iterative five-step process: researching, reframing, ideating, prototyping and iterating. This collection catalogs resources that provide background and procedural guidance on using design thinking techniques in the context of planning. -
Design Thinking for Social Innovation
Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2010by: Tim Brown, Jocelyn WyattThis article provides a brief overview of design thinking and its applications to social enterprises. -
Design Thinking in Planning Practice
PAS Memo — September-October 2021Design thinking has emerged in planning practice as a paradigm-shifting way of addressing the disruptive changes and grand challenges that an increasing number of communities face. -
Design Thinking in Planning Practice
PAS Memo — September-October 2021by: Thomas Fisher September 01, 2021This PAS Memo explains design thinking and explores how this process can bring creativity, agility, and inclusion to planning practice, offering communities an effective set of tools to achieve their goals.Nonmember price$10.00APA members & PAS subscribers$0.00 -
An Introduction to Design Thinking Process Guide
January 2010This guide briefly introduces a five-part design thinking framework and offers suggestions for putting each part into practice. -
Design Thinking — Project in a Day
Toolbox of Smart Urban Innovation Participatory Methods & Tools, 2017This guide explains how planners can use information and communication technology (ICT) tools to engage participants in design thinking. -
Vision Zero Design Thinking Workshop Report
March 2022This report details the feedback local officials in Bellevue, Washington, received during a design thinking workshop focusing on transportation safety. -
Design Thinking in Planning Interest Group
The Design Thinking In Planning Interest Group explores integrating Design Thinking perspectives, principles, and practices in planning efforts as a way to be relevant to the constant changes in communities served. -
Harnessing Design Thinking to Transform Organizations and Inspire Innovation
ICMA, May 2013This article briefly explores the potential benefits of applying design thinking to local governmental processes. -
Design Thinking for Inclusive Community Design: (How) Does it Work?
EdMedia + Innovate Learning 2018, June 2018by: Stefanie Panke, Thilo HarthThis article analyzes how a workshop on inclusive community development in Germany used design thinking. -
How Design Thinking Transformed A Neighborhood’s Creative Placemaking Strategy
January 2020by: Sarah Corlett, Caitlin BehleThis article describes how the design thinking process can strengthen creative placemaking strategies. -
Design Thinking Is Fundamentally Conservative and Preserves the Status Quo
Harvard Business Review, September 2018by: Natasha IskanderThis article critiques the use of design thinking in many risk-averse organizations. -
Design Thinking: An Innovation Tool for Urban Planners
by: Kathleen Onieal, Verena Kuen, Lee MillerThis blog post examines how design thinking can help planners focus on people rather than architecture and infrastructure. -
Design Thinking: New Approach to Solving Planning Challenges
Design thinking can help planners shift paradigm and imagine new futures.Design thinking instructor Thomas Fisher discusses how the practice is useful for planners to envision the future. -
Video Series: Three Design Thinking Lessons for Building Smart Cities
Stories, June 2020This video series discusses design thinking in the context of smart cities and how cities can utilize technology and resident feedback to better service and prevent congestion. -
Design thinking to co-creating cities of the future
URBACT, February 2018by: Jim SimsThis blog post highlights how design thinking emerged as a key theme at the 2017 City Development Forum in Poznan, Poland. -
City Mobility: Easing Urban Citizens Transportation Via Design Thinking
Bootcamp, December 2021by: Anthony CotsThis blog post describes the design thinking process a user experience (UX) designer used to develop a trip planning mobile application. -
Design Thinking in Policymaking Processes: Opportunities and Challenges
Australian Journal of Public Administration, 75 (3): 391–402, 2016by: Michael Mintrom, Joannah LuetiensThis article explores how planners and local officials can apply design thinking strategies to local policy development. It highlights five specific strategies: environmental scanning, participant observation, open-to-learning conversations, mapping, and sensemaking. -
Collaborative Planning, Transitions Management and Design Thinking: Evaluating Three Participatory Approaches to Urban Planning
Australian Planner, 54(1):1-10, May 2018by: Katrina Raynor, Andreanne Doyon, Tanja BeerThis article analyzes three participatory approaches to planning: collaborative planning, transitions management, and design thinking. -
Learning Brief: Design-Thinking to Accelerate Solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals
July 2020This briefing paper explains how teachers and other community stakeholders can use design thinking concepts to engage youth in projects to advance the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. -
Cycling Towards Sustainability: The Transformative Potential of Urban Design Thinking in a Sustainable Living Lab
Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 9: 100269, 2021by: Julian AlexandrakisThis article discusses how multi-sectoral partnerships that engage users in innovation to advance sustainable living can use urban design thinking to analyze problems and implement solutions. -
Co-Creating Smart Cities — Design Thinking for 21st Century Urban Planning
European Research Studies Journal, XXV(2): 301–3015, 2022by: Maria SchuldersThis article details why design thinking and co-creating smart cities as a planner is important to interact and conceive a city in as many different angles as possible. -
Design Thinking: Utilizing Hand Graphics to Explore Ideas
APA Chapters and Divisions Planning Webcast Series, April 2021by: Kona GrayThis webinar explores how planners can use hand drawings and computer graphics to explore and communicate important nonverbal ideas. -
How Design Thinking Transformed a Neighborhood’s Creative Placemaking Strategy
April 2017by: Sarah Corlett, Caitlin BehleThis blog post explores how creative placemaking keeps resident perspectives at the forefront of creative placemaking strategies. -
Smart City Digital Twins Are a New Tool for Scenario Planning
Digitalization and virtual simulation of entire cities can help planners experiment with solutions to meet complex problems.by: Petra Hurtado, PhD, Alexsandra Gomez April 01, 2021Many plans and policies would benefit from undergoing a test stage before implementation. Up until now, the options to do so have been fairly limited. Smart city digital twins promise to change that by allowing planners to explore solutions in a controlled environment that mimics the real city. -
The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design
2015by: IDEOThis guide presents extensive recommendations for using design thinking to solve collective problems. -
Strategic Design Toolkit
This toolkit provides guidance for local officials on a wide range of design thinking techniques. -
Design for America Process Guide
Version 3.2, 2020This guide explains how interdisciplinary teams can use design thinking to solve complex problems in communities. -
Design Kit
This toolkit presents a series of mindsets, methods, and case studies to help designers working in various contexts apply design thinking to their work. -
Design in Government: City Planning, Space-Making, and Urban Politics
Political Geography, 97: 102644, 2022by: Stephen Collier, Anke GruendelThis article discusses how design and design thinking evolved from contemporary design and now is utilized as a procedure to solve problems. -
Design Enters the City: Requisites and Points of Friction in Deepening Public Sector Design
International Journal of Design, Vol 16(, No 3),: December 1–19, 2022by: Antti Pirinen, Kaisa Savolainen, Sampsa Hyysalo, Tuuli MattelmakiThis article explores the challenges and opportunities local officials in Helsinki, Finland, faced when applying design thinking principles to service design. -
Evaluate Upstream: Optimizing the Homelessness Prevention Assistance System in Charlotte-Mecklenburg
This case study discusses how Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, used design thinking to create a blueprint for homelessness prevention. -
What Happens When Women Design for Women? Researchers Found Out.
A team in Sydney, Australia, turned a once‑ignored green space into a data‑backed case study of how inclusive design reshapes public spaces.by: Natalie Missakian February 12, 2026A team in Sydney, Australia, turned a once‑ignored green space into a data‑backed case study of how inclusive design reshapes public spaces. -
How Planners Can Refocus Their Thinking to Incorporate the Future into Plans
Acquiring the skills of foresight and futures literacy helps planners to confidently prepare for an uncertain tomorrow.by: Patrick SissonAcquiring the skills of foresight and futures literacy helps planners to confidently prepare for an uncertain tomorrow. -
AI and Knowledge Work: Critical Thinking
by: Maisie WesterfieldWhile AI in knowledge work presents opportunities for growth and upskilling, the use of AI may also lead to overreliance or other changes to the way we do our jobs and work with communities. Understanding both the pros and cons of using AI in planning work is essential for making informed decisions about integrating it into the workplace and job descriptions. -
Human-Centered Design and Community Engagement
National Civic Review, Spring 2019by: Michelle CrandallThis article explores the concept of human-centered design in the context of local governmental community engagement processes. -
Explainer: What Is “Human-Centered Design”?
Bloomberg Cities, January 2019by: Bloomberg CitiesThis article explains that concept of “human-centered design” and examines how and why cities should be using it to garner wider and more meaningful engagement. -
Innovating the Planning Process Through Community-Centered Design
Planetizen, August 2015by: Sean O'Malley, Andrew Watkins, AICPThis article describes how planners and architects can use human and user-centered design concepts in their work. -
2018 Green Building Festival- Vivian Manasc: Emerging Trends in Sustainable Design & Green Buildings
October 2018This video highlights ten emerging trends in sustainable design and green building. -
Julia Freedgood on How to Grow Strong and Sustainable Food Systems
It takes a holistic view, systems thinking, and an understanding of how to listen to the community.by: Jon DePaolis October 17, 2024It takes a holistic view, systems thinking, and an understanding of how to listen to the community. -
Objective Design Standards for Predictably Better Development
Zoning Practice — March 2026by: Valerie Quarles, AICP, Andrew Faulkner March 02, 2026This issue of Zoning Practice explores key considerations for communities contemplating new design standards. It begins with a brief summary of the core features of zoning-related design controls before evaluating the pros and cons of objective design standards and presenting recommendations to guide planners and local officials through the process of developing appropriate standards. -
DT Tools
2021This toolkit details all the steps of the design process in easy to read and understand processes to help streamline implementation. -
Kennewick, WA, Commercial Design Standards
2007The city's commercial design standards address site design, building design, and streetscape.Kennewick, WA
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