In this episode Tom interviews Charlie Edmonds from Civic Square, an organisation demonstrating neighbourhood-scale civic infrastructure for social, ecological, economic, and climate transition.

Together Tom and Charlie discuss the gap between the idealistic vision of architecture students are taught at university vs the profit driven private practice they work in. Charlie outlines his own journey from architect to Mission Co-Lead for Neighbourhood transitions.

Charlie outlines the three demonstrators Civic Square are building:

The conversation across this episode tells a really important story: neighbourhood buy-in and co-design are essential for navigating climate change. 

Head to Civic Square’s website to see what projects they are working on: https://civicsquare.cc/

Attend free events hosted by Civic Square: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/civic-square-30350377814 

Read Civic Square and Dark Matter Lab’s report into the impact that rising temperatures will have on urban settings in the UK over the next 100 years: https://medium.com/neighbourhood-public-square/3%C2%BAc-neighbourhood-582903b050b2

Read Civic Square and Dark Matter Lab’s chapter on Endowing the Future: https://medium.com/neighbourhood-public-square/endowing-the-future-65041b0f88cd 

Civic Square’s work is based around Dan Hill’s Designing Missions: https://shorturl.at/uFcSO 

Civic Square’s Doughnut Demonstrator is based off Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics: https://www.waterstones.com/book/doughnut-economics/kate-raworth/9781847941398 

The Danish project Doughnut for Economic Development: https://www.effekt.dk/doughnut-for-urban-development 

You can follow Tom’s work via his Substack: https://tomspare.substack.com/

Keep up to date with Spare a Thought via Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spareathoughtmedia/

You can listen to all previous episodes of the show wherever you get your podcasts or head to https://spareathought.podbean.com/.

Spare a Thought is a Be the change. Media Network production.