Activating the core economy by design

The traditional provision of public services needs to be transformed, and this transformation includes ceasing to consider users as passive recipients of services. Instead, the process of service development should be opened up to more participatory methods, whereby users and providers, working together, transform the way in which the welfare state is conceived and services designed and delivered. In achieving conditions of wellbeing, societies face very complex problems, particularly such groups as the elderly, who depend most heavily on the social care services. The paper describes the research developed, as part of the major project of MA Sustainable Design in Kingston University, London, whereby, through the core economy of all the human resources and social networks that support social life, new possibilities for services may emerge, capable of addressing the ageing and wellbeing agenda. The paper also reflects upon dialogic conversation, and social interaction, as the ideal means of engagement when working with social agendas.