The Creative Bureaucracy: Where Next & How?
The 1st Creative Bureaucracy Global Report 2026
The idea of creative bureaucracy has travelled remarkably far. What began as a provocation has become a shared language for public innovators around the world.
The first Creative Bureaucracy Global Report brings together 24 contributors from government, academia, cities, philanthropy, design, and public innovation to explore a central question: Are we gaining traction, and are we making a difference? Just as importantly, it asks what should come next and where the priorities for the movement lie.
Contributors include internationally recognised thinkers and practitioners such as Geoff Mulgan, Mariana Mazzucato, Christian Bason, Indy Johar, Giulio Quaggiotto, Gabriella Gómez-Mont, and James Anderson, alongside leading voices from governments, cities, and innovation organisations around the world.
The report presents a rich collection of perspectives on how public institutions can become more capable, humane, imaginative, and effective. Rather than advancing a single argument, its chapters form a mosaic of ideas and experiences — from the future of the state and public sector leadership to the practical work of delivery, service design, and implementation.
Cities emerge as laboratories for civic imagination and collaboration, while a common thread runs throughout the report: the human dimension of governance. Themes such as judgement, care, courage, playfulness, and agency highlight the qualities needed to navigate an increasingly complex world.
Ultimately, the report seeks to help shape a new operating logic for governance — one that combines imagination with implementation, experimentation with accountability, and public purpose with democratic trust.
Edited by Charles Landry, founder of the Creative Bureaucracy concept and co-founder of the Creative Bureaucracy Festival, and Sebastian Turner, co-founder of the Festival.
The report will be available online soon. For more information, contact info@creativebureaucracy.org.
