Advertisement
Housing

BetterPod: The radical power of design, with Alice Rawsthorn and Peter Barber

In the depths of the Covid pandemic, it could be hard to find good news. But design critic Alice Rawsthorn and MOMA curator Paola Antonelli saw hope in the practical solutions coming from the design community.

They started an Instagram interview series in which they met designers tackling the biggest challenges of our times – from homelessness to climate change, and the refugee crisis to racism, misogyny, and the collapse of social justice. It was a huge hit with viewers, who were stuck at home and hungry for conversations about how the post-pandemic world could be improved for everyone. 

That series has now become a book – Design Emergency: Building a Better Future. It aims to offer inspiration by highlighting the people “at the forefront of practical and radical change”. Among those featured is Peter Barber, an architect with a progressive new vision about how to house people as they make their way out of homelessness.

Rawsthorn and Barber joined Sophie Dimitrijevic and Laura Kelly for this week’s BetterPod – The Big Issue’s weekly interview podcast that asks how we can act today for a better tomorrow.

BetterPod is brought to you by The Big Issue’s Future Generations team. Through the Future Generations team, we offer a platform for exciting young journalists from underrepresented backgrounds to address the biggest issues facing us today.

Listen here, or at your podcast platform of choice.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Sign our petition to keep people in their homes

Urgent action is needed to prevent even more people being pushed into homelessness.  A secure home is the first step in addressing the cruel cycle of poverty to ensure people can fulfil their potential. Join us to keep people in their homes.

Recommended for you

Read All
Homeless charity transforms Ford Transit van to help rough sleepers with food, hygiene and shelter
Rough sleeping

Homeless charity transforms Ford Transit van to help rough sleepers with food, hygiene and shelter

How people are turning to converted vehicles and DIY homes to beat UK's housing crisis
Housing

How people are turning to converted vehicles and DIY homes to beat UK's housing crisis

Sharing is caring: How co-housing could be another piece of the puzzle in solving UK housing crisis
Housing

Sharing is caring: How co-housing could be another piece of the puzzle in solving UK housing crisis

Are social rent homes really the 'silver bullet' to fix UK's housing crisis?
Social rent

Are social rent homes really the 'silver bullet' to fix UK's housing crisis?

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Here's when people will get the next cost of living payment in 2023
3.

Here's when people will get the next cost of living payment in 2023

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue