Housing groups get co-design brief for Think Public task

Think Public is challenging housing associations to solicit design briefs from their residents, as part of this month’s Make Your Mark event, part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, which runs from 16-22 November.

The winning idea will be developed by the consultancy as a pro-bono project this winter.

‘General interest is growing in public-sector design and the challenge now is getting clients like housing associations interested too,’ says Think Public director Deborah Szebeko.

She is expecting the residents to suggest a wide spectrum of ideas, ‘from communications and service design to product and interior design, that could address how gypsies are treated in communities, or how housing associations might help homeless people’.

Szebeko adds that she would like to ‘figure out’ where public-sector, co-design consultancies fit in with the ‘glamorous end’ of design, and to seek more exposure at the London Design Festival.