Designing Trust

Teti Verhoeff Aisling Kloosterhuis

We want to better understand and strengthen the trust between Amsterdam residents and the municipality, and between civil servants themselves.

Trust between citizens and government is under pressure. We are working on trust in several places in the municipal organization. Trust is a difficult and complex subject, and at the same time crucial for how Amsterdam residents relate to the municipality and vice versa. That is why it is important to gain more insight into the different factors that influence the decision that people make - sometimes unconsciously and often in a split second - to trust something or someone. We see trust as the result of a trade-off between perceived vulnerability and perceived reliability. How do you experience your own vulnerability and the reliability of the world around you? If reliability is high, you can be vulnerable. If your vulnerability is great, you have high demands on reliability.

The Digitalization and Innovation department, together with future users, develops tools that help reflect on the interaction between civil servants and Amsterdam residents, and between civil servants themselves. We do this on the basis of the Yutpa framework (literal word for: 'To be with You in Unity of Time, Place and Action') developed by Prof. Dr. Caroline Nevejan. The 16 factors within Yutpa influence how people experience their own vulnerability and the reliability of their environment. By 'coloring' the framework in a structured way, you discover 'design space' where factors have not yet been taken into account. You can also complete the framework from different perspectives. If you superimpose those perspectives, you see the differences.