Design Devices for Human Development

The authors examine the application of service design tools—specifically experience mapping, archetype construction, and prototyping—to development interventions in Kenya and Uganda. By analyzing a clean cookstove system and a climate-related insurance product through Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach, the paper argues that these design devices can help translate individual needs and values into features that promote environmental sustainability and social well-being.

• The authors utilized a service design approach in Kenya and Uganda to develop two specific interventions: a fuel and clean cookstove system and an insurance product designed to assist farmers in managing climate variability.
• Specific design tools, including prototyping, archetype construction, and experience mapping, were used to identify the values, capacities, and needs of individuals and translate those insights into the features of the interventions.
• Using Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach as an analytical framework, the study suggests that these design devices can assist designers in achieving transformational development outcomes focused on social well-being and environmental sustainability in low-income communities.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2022). Design Devices for Human Development. https://www.sei.org/publications/design-devices-for-human-development/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Design Devices for Human Development. 2022. https://www.sei.org/publications/design-devices-for-human-development/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Design Devices for Human Development |date=25 August 2022 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/design-devices-for-human-development/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2022design, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Design Devices for Human Development}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2022}, month = aug, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/design-devices-for-human-development/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }