John Thackara Profile
John Thackara is a writer, advisor and event producer. For more than thirty years he has traveled the world in a search of stories about the practical steps taken by communities to realise a sustainable future. He writes about these stories online, and in books; he uses them in talks for cities, and business; he also organizes festivals and events that bring the subjects of these stories together. His full cv is here.
John is the author of a widely-read blog (you’re reading it now) and of How To Thrive In The Next Economy which has been published in China. His previous books (among twelve in total) were Wouldn’t It be Great If... and In the Bubble: Designing In A Complex World (MIT Press).
John curated the celebrated Doors of Perception conference for 20 years – first in Amsterdam, later across India – and was commissioner of the UK social innovation biennial Dott07 and the French design biennial City Eco Lab. Since then, with a focus on social, ecological and relational design, Thackara has curated place-based xskool workshops in 20 countries and has lectured in more than forty.
A Brit who now lives in Occitanie, France, John studied philosophy, and trained as a journalist, before working for ten years as a book and magazine editor. He was editor of Design magazine for five years, and was later Modern Culture Editor of Harpers & Queen, and design correspondent of The Guardian. He then started a product and consulting company, Design Analysis (DAI), together with Tadanaori Nagasawa and Peter Dormer. With offices in London and Tokyo, DAI created and organised events at the Pompidou Centre, Victoria & Albert Museum, Axis Gallery in Tokyo, and other venues.
From 1989-1992 John was Director of Research at the Royal College of Art. He was the first director (1993—99) of the Netherlands Design Institute.
Currently, John Thackara is visiting professor at Tongji University with a focus on urban-rural reconnection; a senior fellow at the Royal College of Art; a Fellow of Musashino Art University in Japan; and visiting professor at Milan Polytechnic University.
His full cv is here.
Summaries in other languages:
Schon in den 1990er-Jahren, als J O H N T HA C K A R A die Konferenz Doors of Perception gründete, brachte er Design und Umweltfragen in Relation zueinander. Es ging ihm darum, die Wahrnehmung zu schärfen und gemeinsam Zusammenhänge anders zu betrachten sowie gute Ideen ‚für die Sache‘ zu teilen, um diese im Austausch miteinander umzusetzen. In seinem neuen Buch How to thrive in the Next Economy: Designing Tomorrow’s World Today überzeugt er den Leser davon, dass es sich hier nicht um naive Ideen von realitätsfernen Weltverbesserern handelt, sondern um eine ernstzunehmende globale Bewegung. (interview in pdf ->)
Business Week dice que “una de las grandes voces de la sostenibilidad y que trabajando en la intersección entre los negocios, la tecnología, la sustentabilidad y el diseño, mira en lo cotidiano para encontrar oportunidades de diseño”. John Thackara es escritor, orador, crítico de diseño y productor de eventos. Autor del libro: “In the bubble: designing in a complex world” (En la burbuja: Diseñar en un mundo complejo)- MIT Press, y de otros trece libros. Escribe un Blog muy leído en todo el mundo Doors of Perception, sobre el diseño de una economía restaurativa. Como fundador y director de ese espacio, John Thackara organiza festivales en todo el mundo, en una escala de ciudad-región, donde las comunidades pueden imaginar un futuro sostenible y tomar medidas prácticas para llevarlas a cabo. Thackara estudió filosofía, se formó como periodista, trabajó como conductor de autobús de Londres, y más tarde fue editor y editor de una revista en Londres y Sydney. Fue director de investigación en el Royal College of Art de Londres, y luego de 1993-2000 fue Director del Instituto Holandés de Diseño en Amsterdam. Thackara produjo siete Conferencias Doors en Amsterdam, y luego otras en la India. En 2007, fue director del programa de los Designs of the Time (Dott), la innovación social en Inglaterra. En 2008 fue comisionado en Cité du Design, la principal Bienal de diseño de Francia. Miembro Asociado de la Young Foundation en Londres; miembro del Consejo de Asesores de la Pixelache Festival de Helsinki y la Fundación Pecha Kucha en Tokio. Miembro de la Comisión Permanente del Parlamento del Reino Unido para el diseño. Colaborador del portal Design Observer. John Thackara vive en Francia.http://www.di-conexiones.com/john-thackara/
John Thackara ha una formazione da filosofo e dieci anni di esperienza da giornalista. Inglese, vive da anni nel sud della Francia e si definisce un narratore di professione. In pratica viaggia per il mondo per raccogliere testimonianze sul modo in cui le persone si stanno organizzando, dal basso, per costruire un futuro ecosostenibile. Da trent’anni osserva la nascita di network e comunità in tutto il mondo, portandone testimonianza nei suoi libri, al Royal College of Art di Londra, alla Musashino Art University a Tokyo e sul suo blog, che è diventato un punto di riferimento per il tema dell’ecosostenibilità. La ricerca di Thackara parte da una constatazione: il bisogno di energia e risorse naturali per l’uomo è aumentato moltissimo lungo l’arco della sua evoluzione. spindox.it/john-thackara-consumi-bioregioni