Civic designers talk a lot about design for and with people, but what does that actually look like when working with or within institutions that aren’t designed for it? Local civic design practitioners Andrea, Danita and Devika have spent years embedding participatory practices into the design and delivery of public services in Philadelphia. They’ve worked across a range of government services, built service design teams, and shaped infrastructure to support service design in government. Drawing on lessons, practices, and questions from their work they’ll share their perspectives on the promise of good public services and workshop methods to share decision-making power in service design.

This interactive session brings explores how service design can strengthen Philadelphia's civic systems, healthcare experiences, and community ecosystems and other unconventional service-oriented industries. Instead of a standard speaker lineup, we're co-creating the future together through hands-on activities, conversations, and collaborative mapping. We'll map Philadelphia's service-oriented landscape together. Through shared conversation and visual mapping, we'll surface how different roles, disciplines, and institutions intersect - and where opportunities for collaboration, learning, and impact exist. Join us directly after for a social hour at CO-OP Restaurant 20 S 33rd Street (3 minute walk from URBN Center)