Online Talk Event: 10 May 2023, 15:00 – 18:00 (CEST).
Oliver Szasz, co-founder of Anthrotopia, organized and hosted the panel discussion “Towards an Ecological Turn in Design.” The event was part of a Culturesphere talk and exhibition series.
Designing a regenerative future requires designers to adopt radically new ways of thinking—approaches and methods that integrate sustainable, ecological, and social considerations, while engaging both local and global communities, ecosystems, and planetary boundaries. Transformative change must go hand in hand with questioning established paradigms, such as the dualistic relationship between humans and nature or our anthropocentric material culture.
In the design conversation “Towards an Ecological Turn in Design”, renowned experts in sustainable and transformative design – Usman Haque (Umbrellium), Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino (UK Design Council), Raphael Stermann (Haleon) and Chris Grantham (Regenovate) – present their perspectives and, together with Prof. Oliver Szasz, discuss key questions such as: What are the challenges designers face in the context of regenerative design? How can systemic approaches such as living-systems-centred thinking or life-centred design be practically integrated into design processes? Is it possible to involve non-human stakeholders in co-creation processes?
Event Recording – PART 1
Event Recording – PART 2
Detailed Information on Speakers and Topics:
Usman Haque, trained as an architect, is founder and creative director of Umbrellium, a London-based design & build studio dedicated to transforming urban environments. His work embraces many disciplines, including design, architecture, the internet of things, urban community infrastructure, and large-scale public art/performance. He was appointed a Design Council Ambassador in 2021 and to the Mayor of London’s Data for London Advisory Board in 2022. He taught at the Bartlett School of Architecture with Prof Stephen Gage in the Interactive Architecture Workshop (until 2005); and in 2015/2016 led RC12 Urban Design cluster, “Participatory systems for networked urban environments” with Adam Greenfield. Usman received the 2008 Design of the Year Award (interactive) from the Design Museum, UK; a 2009 World Technology Award (art); the Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence prize (2004) and the Asia Digital Art Award Grand Prize (2005). His presentation: “Wild Cities – why reinforcing relationships between humans, non-humans, and the urban fabric are important to creating a fairer future”.
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino is a Londonbased author, consultant and entrepreneur who works across climate change, ethics and the internet of things. She is the author of ‘Creating a Culture of Innovation’ (2020) and ‘Smarter Homes: how technology will change your home life’ (2018). Alexandra is currently building the Low Carbon Design Institute, exploring how creative professionals integrate climate change knowledge in their practice.
Raphael Stermann is Sustainable Innovation Lead at Haleon in DACH, a world-leading consumer health company. Previously a leading member of Steelcase’s global sustainability team, Raphael has gained valuable experiences over the last 12 years in fields such as product ecodesign, CE business models, purpose-led strategies, as well as design thinking and FEI processes. In close collaboration with strategy, innovation and brand teams, Raphael acts as a catalyst to inspire and empower people to unlock human- and planet-centric business opportunities. His presentation: “Towards an Ecological Turn in the corporate innovation culture: first-hand reflections”
Chris Grantham is co-founder of Regenovate. With regeneration as their innovation lens, they unlock growth opportunities for people and their organisations using design, living system principles and regenerative economics. Before founding Regenovate Chris was formerly Circular Economy Executive Director at IDEO, where he led IDEO’s consultancy business in the circular economy and worked with organisations like, H&M, IKEA, VF Corps, Solvay, SAP and Danone on their circular economy strategy, organisational transformation and product innovation. As well as working with individual companies, Chris’s work has involved adapting IDEO’s collaborative design methodology (CoLab) for circular economy innovation across industry value chains and the development of a close partnership with The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, including creating The Circular Design Guide which has been used by over half a million users in over 150 countries. His major focus has been on evolving the intuitions and instincts of designers in pursuit of regeneration and shared value creation. His presentation: “Designing Regeneratively”
Exhibition
This talk event was complemented by a sensory dimension in form of the physical exhibition “Awaré: Object of Human-Nature Dialogue”. For more information, please click the button below.
This talk event was sponsored by Bayern Design and Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft, Landesentwicklung und Energie, and supported by Macromedia University of Applied Sciences.
