Pooran Desai OBE

Pooran has a background in medical sciences and neuroscience but has dedicated his working career to the design of sustainability strategies for places, products and services.  He has worked at a strategic level with real estate developers, cities, retailers and manufacturing companies as well as being a serial social entrepreneur establishing projects, initiatives and companies in sustainable forestry, organic farming, recycling and green property development.  His core design interest focuses on importance of interconnectedness and closing loops - working not only with designers at the front end of creative processes from which so much flows, but also with clients, workers, end-users and natural ecosystems on which we ultimately depend. 

He brings practical experience of cross-sector working to solve complex interconnected ‘wicked’ problems, especially as they relate to transforming our culture and economy to one that regenerates, rather than destroys, earth’s living systems. He led on creation and implementation of Bioregional’s One Planet Living® framework used in over thirty countries and from which the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by all UN member states, are derived. 

Pooran is now focusing on the role of digital technology to help people visualise and manage interconnectedness, founding technology company, OnePlanet.com. 

He has become increasingly interested in comparative philosophy, listening to lots of lectures on Eastern philosophical and indigenous thought and practices, and how they can solve problems currently intractable to Western world views.