Community Living Labs: Co-Creating Policy Solutions in Romania

This course is designed to help you develop and apply the analytical skills necessary for informed decision-making in a comparative public administration and policy context. Although policy analysis was initially associated with the public sector, it is now essential to the nonprofit and private sectors as well. Mainly based on real-time case study discussions and working with a client to develop a team policy analysis paper, the class will explore the choices facing decision-makers in the public and nonprofit sectors in Romania, the US, and other world regions about a wide range of issues, including public health, education, transportation, community development, and environment. The course will emphasize the development of a stage-based analytical approach, but it will also discuss alternative models of policy analysis (design thinking through Living Labs) and consider several critical perspectives. The course will culminate in a team project in which you conduct a client-driven policy analysis project as part of a Living Lab set-up.

This hands-on course would connect students with existing Living Labs and local community organizations in Cluj-Napoca to work on practical projects related to community development priorities. Through experiential learning, students would learn how communities organize themselves, build partnerships, access resources, and create solutions. Students could be placed into small teams matched with local partners based on interests, and work towards developing a policy analysis research report to benefit the community. They would use the Living Lab and Design Thinking principles and methodology to conduct research and co-create solutions together with goverment, academic, nonprofit, and business partners. Reflection would link experience to wider learning on topics like community organizing, resource mobilization, participatory development, and asset-based community building.