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Eiffel Over

A regular digest of matters engineering, creativity and practical philosophy from your host, Oliver Broadbent.
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Now displaying: 2020
May 30, 2020

This episode is about seven themes all related in some way to climate and creativity that keep coming to mind when I'm doing the watering, which is rather a lot at the moment:

  • What can we learn from the Apollo missions?
  • Harnessing the subconscious as a creative tool
  • The wisdom of the allotment
  • The end of sustainability
  • Asking difficult questions
  • Not seeking permission to sound the alarm
  • Digital models of deckchairs on the Titanic
Apr 30, 2020

30 minutes of uninterrupted dawn chorus Hazel Hill Wood, recorded at the end of March. Hazel Hill is woodland nature reserve and education centre helping frontline staff develop resilience and wellbeing through connection with nature. While people are prevented from visiting the woods during lockdown, the team are working on ways to bring the wood to them during lockdown. Listening suggestions:

  • Early in the morning
  • Over breakfast
  • In the background while you work
  • To clear your mind at the end of work
  • Late at night as you drift off to sleep

 

 

Mar 12, 2020

Tabitha Pope is an architect and lecturer, with a specialism temporary structures and participatory archiecture and a passion for work that sits at the boundary of art and architecture. In this episode, produced in support of International Women’s Day, my colleague Lucy Barber interview Tabatha about:

  • What is participatory design and what benefits does it offer us in the climate emergency.
  • Challenging power in order to make architecture a more inclusive space for all under-represented groups, not just women.
  • How her practice of carpentry allows her to intervene in the design process in a different way.
  • Establishing a nature connection to help designers and citizens alike tackle the biodiversity crisis.
  • Stepping into a space of vulnerability in design in order to do things differently.
  • Creating spaces for joy and encounter to tackle loneliness and build resilience in communities.

...And lots more. Enjoy!

Feb 13, 2020

Bengt is a consultant and 're-designer', working in sustainability and circular design in the built environment. This year we are working together to create training in response to the climate emergency. In this interview I ask Bengt about his big question: what single thing can you do to save a million tonnes of carbon. Exploring this question we get into:

  • High-level strategies for accounting for carbon that help avoid getting stuck in the detail.
  • Using culture-change models to guide organisations as they respond to declaring a climate emergency.
  • Thinking frameworks that help consultants engage with the businesses they are supporting.
  • Circular design and the GLA's London plan
Jan 23, 2020

In this episode we flip the format: Alexie Sommer, Independent Design and Communication Director and collaborator on many of my projects interviews me about why I set up Eiffel Over and Constructivist Ltd, and what our plans are for 2020. We get into:

  • Techniques for teaching creativity
  • Our programme of training support people tackling the climate emergency
  • And what engineers might learn from clowns.
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