Our partners Chatham House hosted a series of events investigating how radical design ideas can shape HEALTH, WORK, ENVIRONMENT and SOCIETY in the run up to London Design Biennale 2021. These sessions see panels of experts engaging with the crisis we face, investigating how design communities can respond, and highlighting projects from our gallery of submissions.

Redesigning Work: Radical design ideas to reshape work and wellbeing
23 February 2021, 13.00-14.00 GMT

COVID-19 has challenged long-standing assumptions about working life. Not only have there been huge shifts in where people work, but also the types of work that are most valuable to society. As working practices are in flux, design can reshape what we want from work in the 21st century and how work and life are organised.

At this event we asked, how can design thinking create work that is more people-centred? What new systems or business models could emerge?

Redesigning Health: Radical design ideas to keep us healthy, now and in the future
26 January 2021, 13.00-14.00 GMT 

In this virtual talk, Ana Yang was joined by Thomas Heatherwick, founder of Heatherwick Studio, plus Emma Ross and Professor David Harper from Chatham House. Watch their discussion on how design has responded to the immediate health crisis brought about by COVID-19.

They addressed questions like, how can we move from illness to wellness? How can great design thinking play an important role in improving our health and wellbeing? 

Redesigning for the Environment: Radical design ideas to build greener economies and communities
23 March 2021, 13.00-14.00 GMT

Radical design thinking can deliver transformative policies and ideas to build a more environmentally sustainable world, from increasing biodiversity in our landscapes and localities to creating new more sustainable materials. Innovations can disrupt food production methods, waste systems and transport systems to name a few.

In this virtual event we asked, what radical design ideas could protect our environment and build resilience in the face of the diverse and bigger shocks to come from the climate and biodiversity crises? 

Redesigning Society: Radical design ideas for inclusive and equal societies
27 April, 13.00-14.00 GMT

With so much unconscious or unspoken bias in design, taking a more humanity-centred and participatory approach to design will help to empower all members of our society – across divides of race, gender, ability and age. In this event we asked, if design thinking can be focused on helping the most vulnerable or marginalized members of society, could we end up with the best design outcome for everyone?

Redesigning the Future: Radical design ideas from the next generation
25 May 2021, 13.00-14.00 GMT

The final event in the run up to the London Design Biennale brought together a panel to ask, how can design and policy work together to shape a sustainable and equitable future for all? How can futures thinking help design and policy to navigate complexity?