This is the text of my plenary talk at the Innovation and Emerging Industry Development (IEID) conference in Shanghai on 18 September 2019. I describe three enabling conditions for system change: a capacity for ecological thinking; a focus on social infrastructure (rather than the concrete kind); and a shift of focus from place making, to […]
city & bioregion
Urban-Rural: The New Geographies of Innovation
Also posted in food systems & design, social innovation & design, [no topic]
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Articles in Resilience
Here is a collection of texts by John Thackara selected by Resilience magazine. How To Thrive In the Next Economy: Preface to the Chinese edition This book is not about pre-cooked solutions. It’s about building on what has already been done, in our various social and cultural histories, and on what’s being done, right now, […]
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Back to the Land 2.0 Reader (2019)
This reader is prepared for the annual Back To The Land 2.0 summer school in Sweden that I run together with Konstfack (Cheryl Akner-Koler) and Annika Göran-Rodell. See also a selection of my recent talks here. Annie Proulx on BarkskinsOr, how we first got the idea that the earth’s resources are limitless. Proulx’s story begins […]
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Back To The Land 2.0 – some recent talks
These videos introduce the annual Back To The Land 2.0 summer school in Sweden that I run together with Konstfack (Cheryl Akner-Koler) and Annika Göran-Rodell. See also my Back To The Land 2.0 Reading List. Xskool Talk 1: The Metabolic Rift (20m, 2014)– the big picture: why we have a problem– industrial food vs […]
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Urban-Rural reconnection: research statement for Tongji University
In April, I began work as an adjunct (visiting) professor at Tongji University (College of Design and Innovation) in Shanghai. As part of the appointment process, I submitted the research statement below. This text accompanies the new preface for the Chinese edition of my book and my recent paper for the journal She Ji, Bioregioning: […]
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From Neighbourhood To Bioregion: The City as a Living System
I wrote the following text for a new book, Human Cities: Challenging The City Scale (published by Cite du Design and Clear Village). The Greek physician Hippocrates described the effects of “airs, waters, and places” on the health of individuals and communities. For a short period, the industrial age distracted us from this whole-systems understanding […]
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Field-to-Face: Beauty in Biorefining
At Pontio, in North Wales, a new Masters by Research in Relational Design (#api_MRRD) is designed to help you make a positive step-change in a live wellness project for a region. The elements of a thriving bio-economy exist in Wales – but they are disconnected. One project scenario could be a product-service platform that links […]
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Bottom-up Biodiversity
Whether connecting schools to farms in France, daylighting rivers in Mexico, or rewilding grasslands in Patagonia, we’re learning how to ‘do’ biodiversity well. Fifteen minute read. Illustration © BAFU | Pierre Dubois, collectif Marie-LouiseThis text was commissioned by the Swiss Ministry of the Environment, FOEN. It is also available online in these other languages:German Biodiversität […]