Civic Interaction Design: Creating Tools for 21st Century Civics

Communities need accessible, trustworthy ways for residents and local governments to share information, discuss priorities, and solve problems together. Civic Interaction Design connects interdisciplinary University of Michigan student teams with Michigan municipalities to co-design practical information tools, systems, and services that support civic dialogue and collaborative decision-making.

Built around U-M’s Citizen Interaction Design course, the program moves learning beyond the classroom. Students work directly with residents and public officials to understand complex civic challenges, test ideas, and deliver sustainable solutions shaped by community needs.

The program will involve approximately 25–30 graduate students organized into six to eight interdisciplinary teams.

Audience

• UMSI graduate students and students from other U-M schools.
• Local government staff, public officials, and residents of partner Michigan communities.

What it offers

The program combines community engagement, design thinking, technology development, and public presentation.

• Work with local officials and residents to define a real-world civic challenge.
• Conduct site visits, stakeholder interviews, and user testing in the partner community.
• Listen to and incorporate perspectives from people with different experiences and viewpoints.
• Develop skills in civic dialogue, collaborative problem-solving, and navigating difficult conversations.
• Design and test an accessible information product, system, or public service.
• Explore responsible uses of generative AI without replacing community-based research.
• Present project outcomes to residents and municipal partners at a public Civic Interaction Design Expo.

Program activities

Community discovery – Student teams meet with residents, municipal staff, and public officials to understand the community context, identify stakeholders, and define the civic problem from users’ perspectives.

Design and prototyping – Teams use an iterative design-thinking process to develop and test potential solutions. Projects may use prototyping materials, hosting services, and responsibly applied generative AI tools.

In-community engagement – Students travel to the partner community approximately five times during the semester for interviews, site visits, prototype testing, and feedback sessions.

Final products – Each team delivers a functional information tool or service, along with a sustainability report that helps the municipal partner maintain or build upon the work.

Civic Interaction Design Expo – Students publicly present their projects in the partner community, giving residents and local officials an opportunity to review the outcomes and provide feedback.

Impact on the public good

Community residents will gain more meaningful opportunities to participate in the design of civic technologies and services that affect them. The resulting tools will support more transparent communication, inclusive engagement, and constructive dialogue between residents and local government.

Municipal partners will receive usable information products and sustainability guidance designed to strengthen their ability to engage residents and address complex public challenges. Students will gain hands-on experience in public-interest technology while developing skills in active listening, inclusive design, civic dialogue, and collaborative decision-making.

The program will strengthen long-term relationships between U-M and Michigan municipalities, creating a foundation for future research, teaching, and public-service collaborations.