Luis Garcia
home boxlight kullk flipped open A possible solution for commercial and touristic reactivation of a local neighborhood co-design photography graduation-project biosciences Re-Imagining the Canal Walk Experience in Indianapolis bike-share cmq podcast hip thesis_2021
Luis Garcia
What is Design?
 

Research

 
 

Designing from handiness: moving through contradictions when designing for transitions. PHD DISSERTATION

My research explores contradictions in designing for transitions within local contexts, focusing on the interplay between designers, their positionality, the communities they engage, and the systems they inhabit. Through a methodological assemblage—including participatory workshops, dialogues with change-makers, and autoethnography—I advocate for more equitable, context-sensitive design practices. This work contributes to Transition Design by documenting experiences that reveal how transitions unfold across diverse worlds, emphasizing the designer's positionality in complex collaborations.

 
 

Understanding the designer’s role in Latin American Public Sector Innovation Labs. Masters Thesis

This project explores Public Sector Innovation Labs (PSI Labs) in the Latin American context with a particular focus on designer’s contributions. PSI Labs provide a fantastic opportunity for governments to experiment and innovate how public services are delivered to citizens and improve public institutions’ operations. PSI Labs are becoming increasingly visible, but research has mainly focused on PSI Labs in Europe and North America. Moreover, research has also concentrated on PSI Labs as an institution but not on the people working in them. This thesis attempts to contribute to this growing body of research by studying the particularities of operating PSI Labs in Latin America and design/ers contributions in a space that, according to some proponents, can play an important role in addressing pressing social challenges. By engaging with designers and public servants from other disciplines through semi-structured interviews, this thesis presents insights and proposes future directions that could strengthen PSI Labs structures in Latin America and design contributions. Finally, research findings are synthesized in the form of a Giga map that includes the following themes: challenges, best practices, ideal conditions, expert design, learning opportunities for designers and other public servants, and qualities and expertise of people working in Latin American PSI Labs.

 
 

Publications