Sustain/Create

Tonight was the second Sustain/Create held at the St Pauls Gallery, AUT. Three speakers, Michael Trudgeon of VEIL, Colin Meurk of Landcare Research and Xavier Meade of Wintech spoke on how we might create and nurture the relationships to ecology within urban development. Each presenter offered their thoughts on the biggest challenges we face in implementing change, as well as what some of the opportunities are. All three had powerful and important perspectives, and Colin’s insights into biodiversity and life ‘post’-earthquake in Christchurch were particularly valuable. Michael Trudgeon of VEIL also offered a pretty exciting perspective on the role of design in particular, talking about the potential for designers to reimagine how we can reuse spaces in better ways, and then use our skills in visualisation and story telling to then share those visions as part of creating space and momentum for change. Michael suggested that, rather than waiting for change from government level, the movement for change towards more sustainable ways of building and living in cities and urban spaces (such as converting our garages into cafes) might need to become like PUNK: a DIY phenomenon that went global.

I’ve storified snippets of the evening

n.b Blog Post Updated 24 May with a working storify link!

BetterbyDesign CEOSummit

Cover: Keith Yamashita's book "Why Ceo's are the world's best designers"

At the end of March I had the pleasure of attending the 2012 BetterbyDesign CEO Summit. The summit brings together a range of international and local speakers sharing insights, visions and experiences that can be understood as reflecting a ‘design thinking’ approach to business. Many of those attending come from companies that have a relationship with the BetterbyDesign Design Integration Program and included Deloittes, ANZ, Air New Zealand, Fisher and Paykel, Bobux and Les Milles as well as representatives from various design agencies, peak bodies, universities and the public sector.

Underpinning the summit (and the BetterbyDesign programme) is the commitment to the potential for ‘design thinking’ to transform businesses and create opportunities for innovation, with the ultimate goal of supporting growth for NZ. In opening the summit BetterbyDesign’s Director, Judith Thompson, noted that in contrast to the beginning of BBD 7 years ago, design is now ‘on the table’ in NZ Businesses. Matt McKendry of Deloitte’s described it as “…a movement that continues to get stronger for New Zealand business as we band together to use design as a differentiator in a global market place; something that is critical for our economic prosperity.” Continue reading…