HANDLING INNOVATIVE TRANSFORMATION PROCESSES IN PUBLIC ENVIRONMENT
Year: 2016
Editor: Erik Bohemia, Ahmed Kovacevic, Lyndon Buck, Christian Tollestrup, Kaare Eriksen, Nis Ovesen
Author: Gundersen, Gunnar H.; Berg, Arild
Series: E&PDE
Institution: Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences
Section: New Design Paradigms
Page(s): 270-275
ISBN: 978-1-904670-62-9
Abstract
Design of environment is one example from which debates can emerge. Such public debates can
influence public opinions and subsequently influence political debates and bureaucratic processes.
Studies have shown that there is more difficulty achieving successful radical innovations if
organisations have entrenched structures and bureaucratic processes. Design debates that influence
bureaucratic processes are important to discuss in general, and in design education especially, because
they can tell us something about how visual expressions are read and what kind of impact they have.
Therefore, the present study investigated ways to overcome bureaucratic and commercial resistance to
implementing visual changes in public spaces. To explore these processes and gain a deeper
understanding of the different ways to deal with a range of opinions, a case study method was used
involving participants from different types of organisations and fields of interest. The empirical data
was gathered from the design of a public memorial project that created a fierce debate in Norway and
even abroad, called Smash Nazism, a monument of a resistance group acting during World War II. The
conclusion of the study explains how a confrontational process was handled in the permanent change
of a public space and how aspects of such transformation process can be linked to radical innovation.
This is essential knowledge in design education preparing students for how visual transformation
processes can contribute to corporate social responsibility.
Keywords: Radical innovation, creative industries, public art, design of public space.