Reframing Municipal Service Delivery : A designdriven exploration of organisational paradoxes and pathways for systemic transformation

Sammanfattning

Background: Municipalities face increasingly complex “wicked” challenges in service delivery, where citizens and businesses often need to navigate fragmented organisational structures across multiple departments. In Luleå Municipality, these coordination challenges are particularly relevant in relation to the ongoing initiative Sveriges bästa service, which aims to strengthen municipal service delivery. Objective: This Master’s thesis in Industrial Design Engineering explores how municipal service delivery can be reframed and systemically orchestrated to support a more coherent and user-centred service experience, while still acknowledging the legal, organisational, and professional conditions that shape municipal departments. Method: The project applied a hybrid design research approach combining Design Thinking and Kees Dorst’s Frame Creation methodology. Qualitative methods, including contextual exploration, interviews, call monitoring, and thematic synthesis, were used to identify organisational patterns, stakeholder logics, and underlying paradoxes. Generative AI was integrated as an exploratory design material to support rapid prototyping, conceptual modelling, and the translation of abstract design logic into interactive artefacts. Results: The project resulted in three exploratory service frames: The Pilot (proactive guidance), The Guide (accessible self-navigation), and The Conductor (backstage orchestration). These frames were integrated into the conceptual prototype Luleå Business Hub, a Future-State Service Blueprint, and a Frame-Driven Idea Generator. Rather than proposing the removal of municipal silos, the thesis explores how coordination, reassurance, and process ownership might be redistributed through orchestration across frontstage and backstage service structures. The outcomes should be understood as exploratory design artefacts intended to support reflection, organisational learning, and continued development rather than as finalised implementation solutions.