Designability’s work spans everything from adapted pushchairs for disabled parents to powered wheelchairs for children, as well as research into how vehicles and electric charging infrastructure can better serve disabled communities.

With a background working for major manufacturing brands including Dyson and Airbus, Matt brings deep industry experience alongside a commitment to inclusive, user-centred design.

This conversation explores how thoughtful design can remove barriers, expand independence, and ensure that emerging technologies, including those shaping the energy transition, work for everyone.

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Kathy’s work explores how collective intelligence, combining human knowledge, data, and technology, can help tackle complex global challenges. She is the lead author of the Collective Intelligence Design Playbook and works in partnership with organisations including the United Nations Development Programme and the International Federation of the Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies.

Drawing on a career spanning international development, public health, disability advocacy, and global policy, this conversation explores how collective intelligence can shape better decision-making, more inclusive systems, and new approaches to social innovation.

A thought-provoking discussion about collaboration, technology, and designing solutions that work at scale.

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With a career spanning both academic research and professional practice, Roberto explores how architecture can help shape the future in a time of rapid urban and environmental change. His work focuses on the evolving role of design across disciplines, the transformation of cities, and the social and environmental challenges shaping public space today.

From mobility infrastructure and urban transitions to sustainable and inclusive city-making, this conversation explores how architects can work collaboratively, alongside communities, policymakers, and other disciplines, to respond to the climate crisis and the energy transition.

A wide-ranging discussion about design, responsibility, and the future of our shared urban environments.

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Reflecting on the journey so far, this episode revisits the core ideas behind flexible energy use, the contrast between proactive and reactive energy managers, the limits of top-down policy, and the powerful role of social identity in shaping behaviour.

Across neighbourhoods in Bristol and Glasgow, research shows that when people feel connected to their communities, they are far more likely to adapt their energy use, support others, and act collectively. Energy flexibility becomes not just a technical solution, but a shared social practice.

The message is clear: building a resilient, fair, and sustainable energy system means designing with communities, not just for them.

Because when people feel connected to each other and to a shared purpose, energy flexibility becomes a collective achievement.

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While energy policy often focuses on smart devices, efficiency, and cost, this episode looks at the social forces behind everyday decisions. Drawing on Social Identity Theory and research into community energy behaviour, Sonja explains how belonging, trust, and shared norms influence what people see as responsible energy use.

From neighbourhood solar projects to everyday household routines, energy practices are embedded in relationships, habits, and collective values. When people identify with their community and trust those around them — they are more likely to engage in energy transitions and adopt flexible behaviours.

Designing effective energy systems means recognising the social reality of how people live, connect, and make decisions, not just how much energy they consume.

Next time: People power; the real drivers of energy flexibility.

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As smart meters, electrification, and flexibility programmes reshape how households interact with the grid, most policies still rely on top-down behaviour change. They assume people just need more information or financial motivation. But research tells a different story.

Anna explains why households are already actively managing energy, especially when they feel socially connected within their communities. Rather than treating people as passive recipients of policy, this episode argues for a bottom-up approach that starts with real social relationships and everyday practices.

Understanding how communities function could help policymakers target investment more effectively, design systems that reflect real behaviour, and accelerate the transition to net zero.

Because energy flexibility isn’t just a technical challenge, it’s a social one.

Next time: Energy as a social value.

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Building on the previous episode, Anna introduces these two energy personas in depth. Proactive energy managers actively adapt their behaviour shifting energy use, sharing knowledge, supporting others, and engaging with their communities. Reactive energy managers, by contrast, prioritise personal comfort, make fewer adjustments, and feel less connected to the people and places around them.

Drawing on survey data and in-depth interviews in Bristol and Glasgow, this episode reveals how energy behaviour is closely tied to social identity, belonging, and neighbourhood design.

Proactive energy users aren’t just helpful participants they could be essential partners in electrification, shaping local culture, informing policy, and supporting collective change.

Next time: The myth of the passive consumer.

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As renewable energy grows, balancing supply and demand becomes more complex and simply upgrading technology won’t be enough. Through a simple neighbourhood comparison, this episode reveals something surprising: strong community relationships can directly shape how people use energy.

Drawing on new research from the University of Strathclyde, Sonja explores how social identity influences energy behaviour, the difference between proactive and reactive energy managers, and why energy use is as much social as it is technical.

Next time: a closer look at proactive vs reactive energy behaviours.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.