For all seasons? Exploring the policy-context for co-creation

Abstract

MPACT ‘Co-creation’ is a major buzzword in contemporary governance. A range of public sector organizations nowadays declare co-creation as an overall strategy for their policies and actions. However, what co-creation should mean in operational terms often remains less clear. This article explores what co-creation could look like within three significantly different policy contexts: the exercise of authority, service delivery and regulation. To illustrate the argument, the article also explores the extent to which co-creation as a practice already exists in three Norwegian policy fields which resemble the three policy contexts. These three policy fields are child welfare and protection (authority), elderly care (service delivery) and climate policy (regulation). Although the illustrative examples are derived from a single country, they will be relevant to other countries as well. ABSTRACT Co-creation is a broad concept that can potentially be applied to many significantly different policy contexts. However, the co-creation literature has paid less attention to questions like how policy content conditions co-creation, and how this generic idea can be translated into different policy fields. To address this gap, this article aims to explore what co-creation might mean in different policy contexts, and discusses co-creation in the context of legal authority, service provision and regulation. The arguments are illustrated using examples from three Norwegian policy sectors: child welfare, elderly care, and climate policy.