Co-Design and Deliberative Engagement G (11796.1)

Over the past decade, public authorities have increasingly turned to innovative forms of multistakeholder engagement to enhance the policymaking process. Participatory budgeting, deliberative townhalls, citizens' juries, civic tech, and crowdsourcing are some of many ways by which policies can be co-designed.

The popularity of co-design and deliberative engagement provokes critical questions for the policy community: What are the most effective ways of involving stakeholders in the policymaking? How can these processes be designed, implemented and evaluated? What can we learn from the global best practices as well as 'failed cases' of co-design and deliberative engagement?

This unit invites students of public policy to investigate the power and limits of participatory forms of policymaking. We will examine when these processes are relevant in the policy cycle, the wider political context that lends legitimacy to their application, as well as their champions and critics in and outside the field of public policy. We will cover a range of case studies from contentious policies such as nuclear energy and climate change to regulatory questions on fast-developing technologies including mitochondrial donation and genome editing.

Using a combination of demonstration cases and vignettes from the world-leading experts on open government and participatory innovations, this unit aims to provoke critical reflection on what it means to meaningfully collaborate with different stakeholders in contemporary times.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Develop mastery over different processes of co-design and deliberative engagement and their relevant applications in different points of the policy cycle;
2. Examine successful and 'failed' cases of citizen participation around the world and apply these lessons to Australia;
3. Identify the rigours of designing and implementing innovative forms of multistakeholder engagement given constraints on time and resources; and
4. Assess the effectiveness and shortcomings of participatory and deliberative innovations.

Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - communicate effectively
1. UC graduates are professional - employ up-to-date and relevant knowledge and skills
1. UC graduates are professional - use creativity, critical thinking, analysis and research skills to solve theoretical and real-world problems
2. UC graduates are global citizens - adopt an informed and balanced approach across professional and international boundaries
2. UC graduates are global citizens - think globally about issues in their profession

Prerequisites

None.

Corequisites

None.

Incompatible units

None.

Equivalent units

None.

Assumed knowledge

None.