The Potential of Design Thinking for Public Policy: Developing Creative Skills to Co-Construct an Inclusive City with the Elderly Citizens

Adapting cities to ageing constitutes a major challenge for bottom-up public policies. In this context, this research focuses on adapting design thinking methods to facilitate the participation of elderly citizens in the co-construction processes of urban innovations. The analysis of three creativity workshops demonstrates how factors related to workshop preparation (relying on third-party actors, adopting an intergenerational configuration, raising awareness among elderly participants in their role in generating solutions) and achieving the objectives of the creative process contribute to the development of creative capacities among the elderly. The results are discussed in terms of contributions to the literature on design thinking and its role in the participation of vulnerable populations in the creative process.
JEL Codes: R580, H750, O360, O350