John Thackara

John Thackara|Essays

I am Compost

Something special is happening in France. A 73 year old Algerian-born farmer, philosopher and environmentalist is beginning to impact not just on the electoral process, but the culture of this resolutely human-centered, nature-dominating …

John Thackara|Essays

Spaced Out in a Flat World

Tom Friedman's book The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century (2005) is filled with anecdotes about change in different parts of the world that threaten our fat-cat lifestyles in the North.

John Thackara|Essays

The Service Ecology of a City

Milan has approved a new Territorial Government Plan (Piano di Governo del Territorio) in which public services, and the way they are planned, are at the centre of the whole project.

John Thackara|Essays

How the Banks Want to Make China Sick — and Broke

Is it me, or are some banking people incredibly stupid as well as being venal and sociopathic?

John Thackara|Essays

The Gram Junkies: In Transportation Design the Key Issue Is Not Speed, but Weight

In the matter of mobility and modern transportation we all need to become gram junkies.

John Thackara|Essays

Afghan Culture Museum

A project to create a virtual museum of Afghan culture has been launched in Paris by an independent producer, Pascale Bastide.

John Thackara|Essays

Plan B "Best Architecture Book of the Year" in the Netherlands

My book Plan B: Ontwerpen in een Complexe Wereld (Plan B: Designing In A Complex World) has been selected by the influential magazine de Architect as their best architecture book of the year.

John Thackara|Essays

UnBox: Where Next for Design in India?

UnBox, a three day festival in Delhi, in February, brings together creative collectives from around India.

John Thackara|Essays

The Unwatched Swatch?

If it is true that the world’s information base is doubling in size every 11 hours then a lot of eco-design information, that could be valuable for professionals, presumably goes un-noticed and thus unused.

John Thackara|Essays

What Should Design Researchers Research? Report from 2020

I went to Birmigham prepared. I asked the design researchers to imagine, with me, that a Doors of Perception University had been established and that in 2020, a degree-awarding ceremony was about to take place.

John Thackara|Essays

Use Fewer Words — Or Less Ink?

Various projects to develop environmentally friendly and non-toxic printers' ink are underway.

John Thackara|Essays

Has Venice Cracked the Bottled Water Conundrum?

Italians are the leading consumers of bottled water in the world, the solution to the waste was to created a brand name for Venice’s tap water — Acqua Veritas.