Sarah Ichioka on regenerative models, integration, and reality-based thinking for the future

Design the Future

Sarah Ichioka is an urbanist, strategist, curator, and writer currently based in Singapore. She leads Desire Lines, a strategic consultancy. Her latest book, Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency, co-authored with Michael Pawlyn, proposes a bold set of regenerative design principles for addressing environmental and social challenges. We talked to her about the book and related podcast, her wide-ranging career, and her abiding interest in cities, which was first piqued in her eighth grade year through the Future City competition.

She and Pawlyn started working on the book when they perceived tension between evolution in the built environment community and growing awareness that such progress was not nearly sufficient for the necessary transformation. They sought to tangibly and meaningfully integrate perspectives from outside the built environment, such as Kate Raworth on (doughnut) economics.

“We wanted to craft clear examples of the mindset shifts -- we identify five as new or rediscovered -- to move away from degenerative thinking,” Sarah says. ”We wanted to be direct about the need for a cultural shift, not just technological- or innovation-based change.” She says the book is the beginning of the conversation, which now includes collecting stories of regenerative practice. “The scale of the challenge can feel overwhelming. We need relationships where we can be ourselves and be honest … and then channel them constructively.”