“Thackaras’s strategy is to bring together bottom-up initiatives with professional design competence to make change mass-scalable. The specific knowledge possessed by designers could turn many a grassroots initiative into a sizable movement.” Harald Gruendl

John Thackara, thought leader for positive change through design, as well as author and director of the organization Doors of Perception, will give a presentation about his latest publication, How to Thrive the Next Economy: Designing Tomorrow’s World Today, on Tuesday, 3 May 2016, in the framework of the EARTHtalks.

Three Viennese standard-bearers mentioned in Thackara’s publication have been invited to share their experiences and expertise during an interdisciplinary workshop taking place the day before, on 2 May 2016:

• The foundation Biotope City works towards the urban planning concept “City as Nature.” The city’s resources (buildings, façades/roofs, open spaces, etc.) are used in projects and initiatives to integrate nature into urban living spaces. The foundation’s interdisciplinary team develops scientific contributions and publishes the online magazine BIOTOPE CITY JOURNAL.
• Komobile, an office for traffic management, has developed an app as a decision support tool that calculates the number of calories burned during distances covered by bike, while taking gradients and wind speed into account. The aim is to promote more bicycle mobility in Vienna.
• The Cargo Bike Collective has set itself a goal of promoting self-organized mobility in Vienna via cargo bikes. Loaner cargo bikes and trailers are made available for this purpose against a voluntary donation, an example of collectively shared modes of transport and goods in the city.

In the workshop with John Thackara, which will be moderated by the IDRV – Institute of Design Research Vienna, concrete concepts for “commoning” in Vienna will be devised in conjunction with the three teams of experts.

JOHN THACKARA: How to thrive into the next economy?
Commoning: Workshop in cooperation with the EARTHtalks
Monday, 2 May 2016
2–6 p.m.
MAK FORUM

Limited number of participants. To register, please send an e-mail by 20 April 2016 with a brief rationale for why you want to participate to: departure@wirtschaftsagentur.at

Video: © MAK

Photos: © IDRV [CC by-SA-NC]