[Full Interview] Urban Ecologies - with John Thackara

John Thackara is a writer, curator and professor who develops design agendas for ecological restoration, urban-rural reconnection, and multi-species design.

He curated the celebrated Doors of Perception conference for 20 years, first in Amsterdam and later across India; he was commissioner of the UK social innovation biennial Dott 07, and the French design biennial City Eco Lab; and in 2019, he curated the Urban-Rural expo in Shanghai. His last book was How To Thrive In the Next Economy: Designing Tomorrow’s World Today.

Here we discuss...

• Why more information about the climate crisis just won’t cut it anymore
• How designers can experiment with the presence of microbial lives in their cities
• The phenomenon of weed watching and why it’s gone viral
• Celebrity hen and mango farmers in China who have broken down the rural-urban divide
• Placefulness as a doorway into caring
• How a giant consulting firm could better design their employee sustainability programme (hint: it involves having real tasks to do)
• Ecosystem restoration camps and place-based summer schools
• The failings of snazzy car insulation made from mycelium
• And more ;)

Episode Website Link

Show Links:

• John’s website 
• Design for Multi Species Cities 
• Regenerative Empathy Paper 
• Sugi Project
• Back to the Land Summer School 
• Urban Rural Connection in China 
• Internet of nature

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Photo Credit: Jason Klassi via Getty Images

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

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