Design Meets Democracy 🇺🇸 with Chelsea Mauldin

About this episode

Chelsea Mauldin discusses her journey of integrating design thinking into the U.S. government and the challenges faced in the public sector.

We are building an independent global network of people doing human-centred work. Create an account, learn, listen, connect and network - for free → https://www.thisishcd.com/signup ________________________ When Chelsea Mauldin began bringing design thinking into the U.S. government, she was met with scepticism — design was still seen as “throw pillows and pretty fonts.” In this deep and fascinating episode, Chelsea — Executive Director of the Public Policy Lab in New York — joins Gerry Scullion to share her journey from urban planning to pioneering human-centered design in federal and municipal agencies. They discuss: ✅ How design entered the public sector during the Obama era. ✅ Why half the real work happens after the design phase. ✅ Building trust, ethics, and change in complex systems. ✅ The People Say project — a groundbreaking, public repository for civic research. ✅ What AI means (and doesn’t mean) for the future of public services. 🎧 A must-listen for anyone working in service design, policy, or civic innovation. ________________________ → Train my organisation https://www.thisishcd.com/training → Designing for Social Impact with Service Design with Gerry Scullion (and…

People in this episode

Host: Gerry Scullion

Guest: Chelsea Mauldin

Topics covered

• design thinking
• public sector
• human-centered design
• civic innovation
• service design

Keywords

• Obama era
• trust
• ethics
• complex systems
• AI
• public services

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Public Policy Lab

Books & works: Design Meets Democracy

Places: U.S., New York

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