Projects

Selected Past Projects

Four Days Halifax
Halifax Nova Scotia, 2009

The Landfill Designers
Programme for BBC Radio 4, 2009

2012 Imperative Teach-In
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2009

Off-Grid Water
Stanford University, 2009

Sustainable Daily Life
Projects Clinic, The Planning Center, Southern California, 2009

Travel Without Moving
Pixelache Festival, Helsinki, 2009

City Eco Lab
St Etienne, France, 2008

Eco Design Challenge
North East England, 2006-2007

Designs of the Time (Dott07)
North East England, 2007

Food Systems: The Design Agenda
Doors of Perception 9, New Delhi, 2007

Aspen Design Summit
Aspen, 2006

Social Innovation Observatory 'Emude"
European design research consortium, 2005-2007

Platforms for Social Innovation
Doors of Perception 8 on “Infra”, New Delhi, 2005

Tools For Citizen Services
Project Leaders Round Table, Amsterdam, 2004

Time In Design
Delft, 2003

Fused Space
The Netherlands, 2003

Mobility, Geography, Access
DoorsEast2, Bangalore, India, 2003

Interaction Design Institute Ivrea
Ivrea, Italy, 2000-2003

Design and Local Knowledge
Oslo, 2002

Hong Kong Design Task Force
Hong Kong, 2002

Amsterdam Medical Centre (AMC)
Amsterdam, 2002

Post-spectacular Tourism
Narva-Joessu, Estonia, 2002

The Design Challenge of Pervasive Computing
Doors of Perception 7 on Flow, Amsterdam, 2002

Life in the Learning Economy
Amsterdam, 2001

The Design Challenge of Pervasive Computing
Convivio 2001-2003

Design and Innovation Research Centre (DIEC)
Newcastle upon Tyne. 2001

Quality Time at High Speed
Breda, The Netherlands, 2000

Local Knowledge: The Design and Innovation of Tomorrow’s Services
Ahmedabad, India, 2000

Doors of Perception 6 on “Lightness”
Amsterdam, 2000

Design Clinic for Entrepreneurs
Highlands and Islands of Scotland

Virtual Platform
Netherlands, 2000-2003

E-Culture Fair
Amsterdam, 2000

John Thackara is a writer, speaker and design producer, and director of Doors of Perception. In addition to this blog, he is the author of twelve books including In The Bubble: Designing In A Complex World and Wouldn't It Be Great If….

Newsletter

From March 2002 to September 2010, John Thackara sent out a monthly email newsletter: Doors of Perception Report. The newsletter contained short, opinionated texts about social innovation and design.
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Does the world need a professional development program to support designers, architects and design professors making a fundamental transition to a new kind of design? To explore that question, Doors of Perception has launched an enquiry with the working title xskool. An xskool encounter took place at West Lexham in the UK last weekend. It was a wonderful experience, but a question remains open: was last weekend's positive energy, attention, and mindfulness a happy fluke? Or could one reproduce the conditions that nurtured them? In which ways might xskool be an intentional part of 'the change we wish to see in the world'? A next discussion is in New York City on the morning [09-12h] of Wednesday 8 June. It's hosted by hosted by Cameron Tonkinwise at Parsons. If you would care to join us, email me at: john at doorsofperception dot com

Recent Essay

Cycle Commerce As An Ecosystem

John Thackara reviews new products, services and ingredients needed to help a cycle commerce ecosystem flourish in India’s cities, towns and villages.

Recent Book

In the Bubble: Desiging in a Complex World
John Thackara
The MIT Press, 2005
More books by John Thackara >>

Design Observer Essays

05.07.13

Paranoid But Pretty

A review of Matthias Megyeri's new show at the German Architecture Center, and a review of the question the exhibition inspires: "Are we safer?"

04.26.13

A Roof, A Skill, A Market

The Nubian Vault Association has evolved a unique approach to housing in West Africa that creates three kinds of value within local economies: a roof, a skill and a market.