I’m Marlieke Kieboom, a Dutch-Canadian anthropologist, design leader and public sector innovator.
Views expressed here are my own.
On this site I publish unfinished notes on things I’m learning about — and probably only scratching the surface of. I believe that writing helps shape critical thought: thought that can be shared, designed with, collaborated over, and expanded upon.
The central question underlying my work is how public institutions engage with the lived complexity of people’s lives through the lenses of systemic design, public administration, and digital public infrastructure. Topics I return to often include:
- relational public service design
- relationality, complexity-thinking and systemic design
- visible and invisible power
- hybrid, novel forms of governance
- public service wait time as a design material
- digital applications and infrastructures (and who gets to design them)
- system ecologies
- technology in human futures (yes, AI)
- the more-than-human predicament (will we make it?)
My work has frequently appeared in academic and public sector publications exploring relational public management and systemic transformation (see resume).
At heart, I remain forever curious — participating in, observing and designing institutional and human life from within.