Designers' Unique Skill: Material and Relational Quality

One of the leading voices in transition design for sustainability and societal change, Cameron Tonkinwise, Professor of Design Studies at the University of Technology Sydney, joins us for a deep conversation on what design must become in an era of systemic collapse.
In this episode, he speaks on why the logic that drives most businesses - efficiency, growth, and value capture- is often fundamentally at odds with what people actually want and need, and how this tension is giving rise to alternative value systems that challenge dominant capitalist structures.
We also explore the evolving role of universities as critical spaces for experimentation and sense-making, and why their ability to shape imagination, culture, and future practitioners may be more important now than ever.

As A long-time observer of how design, education, and economic systems co-evolve, Cameron brings a rare ability to connect theory with lived societal consequences.
He explores how design is both an ontological and political practice, shaping how people live, relate, and care for one another.
Drawing on decades of experience in social innovation and design education, he shows why transition is about co-creating shared visions, not delivering pre-defined solutions.
Whether you’re a designer, an educator, or someone curious about how our systems and values could evolve, this conversation is for you.

Key Highlights
👉 Design is not neutral problem-solving; it actively shapes how people live, relate, and understand what is possible.
👉 Most business models are structurally optimised for efficiency and value capture - not for meeting human or societal needs.
👉 Systemic transitions cannot be engineered, scaled, or optimised without losing their democratic and participatory core.
👉Capitalism maintains dominance by presenting itself as the only viable system, while alternative value systems and economies already exist beneath the surface.
👉 What counts as “value” is not fixed; it is produced by institutions, infrastructures, and cultural norms - and can be redesigned.
👉 Universities play a critical role as spaces where future practitioners, imaginaries, and societal norms are formed - their decline risks narrowing the futures we can collectively imagine.
👉 Designers’ unique contribution to transition lies in making change livable at the human scale, not in accelerating adoption or efficiency.

Topics /chapters
(00:00) Is Another World Possible? Transition Design - INTRO
(01:34) Introducing Cameron Tonkinwise
(03:33) Designing Transitions: From Small Interventions to Systems Change
(10:40) Technology, and the Politics of Design
(22:07) What does good design now look like?
(29:05) The Designer’s Role in Interdisciplinary Systems
(34:20) Creating new contexts for care
(49:56) Breadcrumbs and Suggestions

Remember that you can always find transcripts and key highlights of the episode on our website: https://www.boundaryless.io/podcast/tonkinwise-cameron

Episode recorded on Dec 18, 25

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Music

Music from Liosound / Walter Mobilio. Find his portfolio here: https://blss.io/Podcast-Music