Visualizing & strategizing public value: an unexpected path to invisibilizing

Original

Visualizing & strategizing public value: an unexpected path to invisibilizing

Camille Guirou, Laurent Beduneau-Wang

Abstract

Whereas public value has become a central concern in public management, its visibility within strategic decision-making remains a major challenge. This article examines how visual tools contribute to visualizing and strategizing public value. Drawing on an action research conducted in a French municipality, we show that issue maps shape strategizing by making public value visible, discussable, and strategically actionable. We demonstrate that these tools direct attention, support deliberation and structure meaning, creating public value. Surprisingly, they also generate resistance and processes of invisibilizing: some values become unseen. These findings highlight the inherently selective and political nature of visualizing.