Fostering emergence in behavioral public policy: A systemic behavioral design framework
to be presented at design research society (DRS) 2026
Behavioral public policy design tends to take a top-down, evidence-based approach to prompting behavioral change through mechanisms like ‘nudges.’ Yet behavioral responses to evolving conditions in complex systems—such as the recent No Kings rallies and anti-ICE activities in the US—often manifest as emergent, self-organizing movements, representing a powerful ‘bottom-up’ form of behavioral change that provides an alternative to traditional behavioral policy. This paper proposes a behavioral systems framework to explore the dynamic of behavioral emergence in a systemic context, composed of two matrixed dimensions: 1) micro, meso, and macro system levels; and 2) mechanisms that support behavior, ranging from targeted interventions, to underlying infrastructures, to ideological influences such as underlying belief systems. It then illustrates this conceptual model more practically through the lens of No Kings and anti-ICE activities and reflects on how behavioral public policy can incorporate more systems-oriented approaches to better support similar emergent behaviors.