John Thackara, a Senior Fellow at the Royal College of Art in London, travels the world in a continuous
search for live examples of what a sustainable future can be like. He writes about these stories at his blog,
thackara.com, and in books, and advises cities, companies, and institutions.
For more than thirty years John Thackara has traveled the world in his search of stories about the practical steps taken by communities to realise a sustainable future. Born in the UK, he now lives in south west France, John studied philosophy, and trained as a journalist, before working for ten years as a book and magazine editor. He was the first director (1993—1999) of the Netherlands Design Institute in Amsterdam; he was program director of Designs of The Time (Dott07), the social innovation biennial in England; he was commissioner in 2008 of France’s main design biennial, Cité du Design. He is a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, in London, and a Fellow of Musashino Art University in Japan. He is also a member of the UK Parliament’s Standing Commission on Design. He has also edited the magazine Design for five years, and was later Modern Culture Editor of Harpers & Queen, and design correspondent of The Guardian. He then started a conference and exhibition company, with offices in London and Tokyo, which 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. Among John’s 12 books are Design After Modernism: Beyond the Object (1987), and Lost in Space: A Traveller’s tale (1995). His best-selling book In the Bubble: Designing In A Complex World, was published by MIT Press in May 2005 and has since been published in nine other languages. His most recent book How To Thrive In The Next Economy was published in 2015. In addition to his big-picture keynote talks for cities, companies, and institutions, he also chairs events, and is known for his lively Q+A interviews. He has curated two national biennials and serves on a number of international professional juries.
Fast Company described John Thackara as “a business provocateur….”. For the Wall Street Journal, he “has established a global reputation as a cutting edge design expert”. Wired called him a “a design luminary”. The San Francisco Chronicle described him as a “wired era visionary”. The Economic Times of India noted his “brilliant insights into the internet and sustainability”.
Fast Company described John Thackara as “a business provocateur….”. For the Wall Street Journal, he “has established a global reputation as a cutting edge design expert”. Wired called him a “a design luminary”. The San Francisco Chronicle described him as a “wired era visionary”. The Economic Times of India noted his “brilliant insights into the internet and sustainability”.
Recent talks include:
“How To Disrupt the Disruptors” for INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CONVENTION CENTRES
“From biomedicine to bioregion: the geographies of a care-based economy” UC BERKELEY, SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
“From Dredging, To Land Care” DEME
“Five Percent Health” MAYO CLINIC
“Creating An Innovation Ecosystem” SCANDINAVIAN BUSINESS SEATING
“Beyond GDP: New Economic Metrics” FORUM D’AVIGNON
Testimonials:
“Outstanding! Excellent insights at many different levels” American Society of Landscape Architects
“You lifted the conference and discussion to a high level” Oslo Architecture Triennale
“Insightful, engaging, and charismatic” Audi Urban Future Award
You provoked us with outside-in, future-related, concepts and opinions” TNT
“an excellent, thought-provoking session on Big Data” AMP Bank, Sydney
“our high-level guests greatly appreciated your challenging talk” T-Mobile
“Brilliant insights into the internet and sustainability” Economic Times of India
“An inspiring presentation for our executive workshop” Ikea
“Gave our conference the positive energy it needs “ European Carton Makers Association:
“Has established a global reputation as a cutting edge design expert” Wall Street Journal
”An extraordinary, candid and inspiring keynote” Advertising-Information
