CONTENTS

  • Dates for my Meetups/Retreats in 2022
  • YouTube Channel
  • Nature Reconnection: Hour of Ecology
  • Project Regenerative Design in China
  • School for Village Hosts in Europe
  • Back To The Land Summer School in Sweden
  • Recent Publications

THACKARA MEETUPS
PRE-ANNOUNCEMENT & SUMMER DATES

After a two-year pause, Kristi and I are hosting three Meetups this summer at our home in southern France. If you are a designer, project curator, postgrad student, researcher, or writer – and are working on a thesis, project, or book – check out their feedback in our guestbook.

This year’s dates are:

Tuesday 24 May – Tuesday 31 May

Tuesday 14 June – Tuesday 21 June

Thursday 7 July – Thursday 14 July

Tuesday 30 August – Tuesday 6 September

We will invite applications (basically, a short email to us) from mid-February. Go here for further information: thackara.com/meetinfrance/meetup. And if you are not already a newsletter subscriber, please sign up here.

REGENERATIVE DESIGN IN PRACTICE:  OUR NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL

The words ‘regenerative design’ sound great – but what do they mean in practice? In the videos on our new youtube channel, inspiring pioneers explain what their work entails in practice. Henriette Waal (Atelier Luma) tells me about ‘Living with Rising Water’ and ‘Weaving for Wetlands’. Indy Johar (Dark Matter Labs) talks about ‘Nature as Infrastructure’. In Hour of Ecology, I discuss the role of design in nature reconnection.

REGENERATIVE DESIGN IN CHINA

In China, at the invitation of Prof. Dr. Yongqi Lou (Vice President at Tongji University) I’m developing the agenda for a thematic cluster where Regenerative Design meets climate finance, artificial intelligence, ecological restoration, green infrastructure, and agro-ecology. This work builds on the bioregioning agenda, and the Urban-Rural expo we did in Shanghai at the end of 2019. In a recent work-in-progress talk called Beyond Calculation: AI and Sustainability I ask: Can AI serve all of life, not just human life? And if so, how?

DESIGN FOR PLANET FELLOWSHIP 

Together with eight colleagues, I’ve joined the #designforplanet Fellowship recently launched by Design Council in the UK. Over the coming months, we will explore ways to turn the promise of Regenerative Design into practice. Our themes include design for adaptive and resilient places; the restoration of natural systems; and design for nature reconnection.

OPEN SCHOOL FOR VILLAGE HOSTS

Post-Covid tourism. Agro-ecology. Land-based learning. Many new activities and livelihoods are emerging in small villages around Europe – but these social innovation projects do not organise themselves. A key role is played by project producers and curators we call “village hosts”. A pan-European Erasmus project called Open School for Village of Hosts, which I’m advising, will create a training program, a knowledge exchange platform, and a pilot project. More details to follow soon.

BACK TO THE LAND 2.0 SUMMER COURSE, SWEDEN 

Together with Konstfack, I’m once again running the international summer masters course on sustainable food systems and biodiversity. Running from 20 June to 28 August, the course combines online study with a live week long workshop in the rural Swedish village of Hjulsjö. All are eligible to apply, and EU students are charged no fees for tuition. Registration opens on 18 February; applications close on 15 March. My fellow tutors are Cheryl Akner Koler, Annika Göran Rodell, Corina Akner and Anna Maria Orrù.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

The relationship of my texts to a dead fish (Writing in Creative Practice). Climate: Are We Thinking Too Hard? In Common Table. Reconnecter villes et campagnes: l’approche biorégionaliste  (French translation of Bioregioning: Pathways to Urban-Rural Reconnection)