Design Observer Twenty Years 2003-2023
01.20.12
John Thackara | Essays
Navy Yard, GradComD, Brown Bag, Hard Hat

My talks and encounters in the US next week are about design for life after the industrial growth economy. I hope to see some of you there.
Design in the Light of Dark Energy
The Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster is an innovation hub at the Navy Yard. This conference on Architecture and Energy is at Meyerson Hall, Pennsylvania School of Design, Philadelphia. Friday, January 27.
Design in a Gift Economy
Jobs and money are in short supply — probably for ever. Are there ways that design can add new value to sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, exchanging & swapping? (I know GradComD sounds like something in Dr. Strangelove but is in fact my host, Jeff Belantoni's, excellent programme). Monday January 30, 6pm, Higgins Hall, Brooklyn campus of Pratt Institute.
Brown Bag at Studio X
Bring a brown bag because I'll be talking about catabolic collapse at my lunchtime chat at Studio X the New York hub of GSAPP’s (look it up) global network of advanced research laboratories for exploring the future of cities. 180 Varick St, New York, NY 10014, January 31, 2012, 12:30-1:30pm MAP.
Hard Hat at SVA
Allan Chochinov must be expecting aggro because we all have to wear hard hats to his "at home" session on the occasion of his new masters programme Products of Design. SVA, 136 West 21 Street New York, NY 1011-3213 ([email protected] Thursday February
2, 7-9pm
More from John Thackara
When Tech In Care Is Evil
I spent the last two weeks in-and-around a care home in England that looks after people with dementia and terminal illness, and their families – including, this time, mine.
Food As A Commons
People go hungry not because of a shortage of production, but because the food available is too expensive, or they lack the land to grow it on. In California, the prototype of a combined social, political and technical solution has been launched which promises to unlock the food system crisis.
Presence and Encounter — How We Meet Is As Important As Why
I’m not suggesting that we abandon social media — just that we cultivate a hybrid approach so whenever someone says “online” someone else says, “and what about offline?”. Or when we find ourselves inside, someone else says: “and when do we go outside?”
Keep Your Stuff Alive
What would fashion be like if it was more than a an act of consumption with no meaning beyond the point of sale? What kind of system would improve the quality of our fashion experience without increasing the quantity we consume?
Cloud Commuting
A two-year project in Belgium proposes new relationships between people, goods, energy, equipment, spaces, and value. Its design objective: a networked mobility ecosystem.
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