Service Design as Intervention for Wicked Problems: Case Studies from a Service System Design Course

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-737-8_13How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Service design; Wicked problems; Design education; Intervention framework

Abstract

While the theoretical relationship between service design and wicked problems has been explored through typological models and strategic comparisons, empirical studies demonstrating how specific service design methods intervene in concrete wicked problems remain scarce—particularly in design education contexts. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a Service Design Intervention Mechanism Framework that maps four characteristics of wicked problems to four intervention mechanisms operationalised through service design methods. The framework is empirically examined through three student cases from a 16-week Service System Design course at a Chinese university, spanning community carbon behaviour change, food waste resource circulation, and menstrual stigma. Cross-case analysis validates the four mechanisms: enabling systemic perspective, facilitating participatory engagement, supporting iterative structuring, and catalysing problem reframing. The paper contributes a theoretically grounded and empirically supported operational framework that complements existing diagnostic and strategic models.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Jiahua Chen
AU  - Yixuan Wang
AU  - Yinqi Xiong
AU  - Xujin Zhang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/18
TI  - Service Design as Intervention for Wicked Problems: Case Studies from a Service System Design Course
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 5th International Conference on Art Design and Digital Technology (ADDT 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 92
EP  - 102
SN  - 2352-538X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-737-8_13
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-737-8_13
ID  - Chen2026
ER  -