Carra Santos
Sustainable Futures.
Carra is a cross-sector sustainable futures educator and interpreter, supporting creative leaders, cities and communities to co-design the transition to sustainable futures.
Through the lens of people and place, she translates environmental, social and economic needs into practical understanding, solving real-world problems and unlocking opportunities through projects embedded in context, creativity and collaboration.
“Extremely knowledgeable and passionate - these two qualities don’t always come together.”
Context.
Case-building research into the environmental, social and economic context in which live and we work, connecting real-world needs to people's interests, capabilities, and opportunities within practical reach.
Creativity.
Change-making solutions that champion human creativity and practical skills - brought to life by abundant local and global inspiration - and so address climate action through social cohesion.
Collaboration.
The interpersonal skills to shift beyond silos: learning from and participating with other people/sectors/groups; navigating different fears/motivations, and creating space for conversation and collaborative relationships.
Everyday Practice.
Combining twenty years in the creative industries with an MSc Sustainable Development in Practice (Distinction), Carra's career has evolved from multidisciplinary creative and design concepts - including internationally-acclaimed product innovation and highly-prescient future concepts for world-class events - to future-shaping skills and inspiration for creative leaders, cities and communities.Using futures-, systems- and design thinking methods, she seeks to equip creative thinkers with clear, consistent and accessible knowledge and tools to step into their sustainable futures roles.
Supporting:
Educators & Advisors
Carra provides fundamental sustainable futures knowledge for industry educators and advisors in their particular contexts, explaining themes and connections, closing knowledge gaps, and building relevance and communication for different groups.
“It’s fantastic to be shown that we can start a conversation and provide leadership/guidance through our courses.”
Creative Enterprise
Carra supports 'solutionist' enterpise, where viable creative business models, projects, practices, and networks are refined/designed to solve real-world problems and participate in a regenerative and distributive economy - shaping the future, and securing their place in it.
“Working with Carra is a fantastic opportunity that all businesses should be lucky to have.”
Councils & Communities
Carra supports city-makers, local authorities and communities with place-based creative climate action, adaptation, and design-led regeneration projects - including special insights into reducing urban inequality - to ensure meaningful practical and behavioural change.
“A special talent for delivering solutions that satisfy requirements from all stakeholder perspectives.”
Alongside her everyday practice, Carra is a Design Council Specialist Expert and an independent Doughnut Economics educator and consultant, currently supporting University of Bath, and Bath and North East Somerset Council, with outreach and engagement. Her contribution to the book ‘Accelerating Sustainability in Fashion, Clothing & Apparel’ was published by Routledge in 2023.
Toolbox.
A selection of Carra's favourite 'go-to' theories, methods, thinking and evaluation tools for everyday practice, spanning sustainable development, new economic thinking, behaviour change, communication, creativity and design.
“Carra knows her sustainability stuff and her knowledge has depth in addition to passion.”
Schwartz Values
The theory that a fixed number of basic human values and motivations are universally shared and drive human behaviour - as such, offering the tools to seek common ground for effective communication.
Social Practice Theory
The theory that an individual’s behaviours and choices are not always based on their own values, but on the social norms that surround them. How do we shape new norms?
The Embedded Economy
Doughnut Economics' structure for a regenerative and distributive economy, comprising four economic realms collaborating in balance: the market, the household, the state and the commons.
The Doughnut
Doughnut Economics' place-based tool for securing the social foundation, where everyone’s needs are met, within the ecological ceiling, where planetary boundaries are not breached.
The Double Diamond
The 'design thinking' process of exploring a challenge widely and deeply to solve the right problem in the right way. Carra puts 'systems thinking' into the first diamond to provide beyond-industry context and inspiration.
Bridge to Belonging
Carra's own place-based evaluation method to establish priorities and consensus among decision-makers at a neighbourhood level - in particular, within areas of urban inequality/deprivation.
Behind the scenes.
Carra's in-depth and interconnected insights into sustainable futures concepts are based on inherent creativity, curiosity and ongoing research into new economics, enterprise, behaviour, communication and design.Her personal passion is exploring how transformative habits, attitudes, practices and behaviours can be inspired by effective communication and design in the built environment.
Lisbon's Muita Fruta project, where locals collaborate with landlords to grow and gather food from around the city, to cook in community kitchens.
Ile de Nantes, France, and its urban riverside nature reserves, where the sounds of city life include bicycle bells and bullfrogs.
On an inspiration safari in Lisbon, exploring LX Factory's independent shops and street art.
Amsterdam's acclaimed De Hallen, housed in an old tram depot, and home to independent streetfood vendors, creative outlets and craft markets.
Holland-based lighting company Ay illuminate's collaboration with Asian and African makers to team traditional craft skills with natural and waste materials.
The timeless practice of Pêche à Pied (Fishing on Foot) on the Brittany coastline - the low-impact way that French people get their Sunday lunch.
A random street art snap which is the perfect reminder to step away from the screen and stoke the curiosity that inspires more creative solutions: "Here I recapture my animal instinct!"
Contact.
If you would like to discuss any learning programmes, projects, partnerships, opportunities or ideas, please don’t hesitate to get in touch, and suggest a good time to talk.
Carra is UK-based and works internationally.
© Carra Santos MSc FRSA
Educators & Advisors.
Carra provides fundamental sustainable futures knowledge for industry educators and advisors in their particular contexts, explaining themes and connections, closing knowledge gaps, and building relevance and communication for different groups.
This supports further/higher education professionals and industry advisors with the cohesive environmental, social and economic needs behind their sector/specialism, interpreting robust and relevant sustainable futures research and themes into talks, learning programmes and curriculums.
This can include:
Quiet learning for industry educators and advisors
Contextual research and training for teams
Programme/workshop design and/or facilitation
Research interpretation for multi-stakeholder learning resources
Communication/content review and recommendations
Working examples
Basics of Sustainable Futures
Regenerative and distributive mindsets - a four-part education programme delivered to design, business, finance and technology academics to provide context beyond their subject specialisms and help inform their content and curriculums.
Future of Interior Design/Business
Circular networks and creative ingenuity - a bespoke research/recommendations report and presentation on the future of interior design education for an award-winning private interior design school in London, UK.
Future of Fashion Design/Business
Circular networks and collaborative production - academic and industry research on sustainable behaviours in fashion business and consumption, presented at UCA Sustainable Innovation Conference and soon to be published by Routledge.
Client ecosystem
Design schools, university departments (design, business, finance and technology), enterprise advisors, industry advisory bodies and trade associations.
“It’s fantastic to be shown that we can start a conversation and provide leadership/guidance through our courses, even if we are not experts."
Carra is UK-based and works internationally. Email Carra.
© Carra Santos MSc FRSA
Creative Enterprise.
Carra supports 'solutionist' enterpise, where viable creative business models, projects, practices, and networks are refined/designed to solve real-world problems and participate in a regenerative and distributive economy - shaping the future, and securing their place in it.
She equips creative leaders and organisations with beyond-industry knowledge and tools to build the case, make connections, and unite teams through positive impact, stability, and longevity.
This can include:
Quiet learning for creative leaders
Shared vision through team workshops and learning activities
Specialist topic research, inspiration, explanation and business case-building
Expanded stakeholder mapping and tools for communication and collaboration
Project-by-project guidance and support through development/implementation
Working examples
Design for Thriving Cities
A future-shaping series of leadership, design and built environment workshops, including Circular Economy, Social Value, Inclusive Design and Reinstating Nature.
Creative Enterprise Design
Strengthening business models for creative enterprise in a post-growth landscape, that enable climate mitigation and adaptation through (sometimes tech-enabled) human creativity and skills.
Circular Networks & 'Soft' Skills
Cross-sector local and circular networks (and related interpersonal skills) for place-based creatives/designers, working on projects within property, retail, hospitality and tourism.
Client ecosystem
Conscious design leaders, creative practices, architecture firms, start-ups and social enterprises.
"Working with Carra is a fantastic opportunity that all businesses should be lucky to have. You need to know more than you think you know, and I would highly recommend that Carra be the person to bring the passion and creative solution to your business.”
Carra is UK-based and works internationally. Email Carra.
© Carra Santos MSc FRSA
Councils & Communities.
Carra supports city-makers, local authorities and communities with place-based creative climate action, adaptation, and design-led regeneration projects - including special insights into reducing urban inequality - to ensure meaningful practical and behavioural change.
Such projects focus on the specific cities, towns and neighbourhoods where we live and work, and often centre around interconnected efforts towards local economy, community energy, circular skills, urban growing, biodiversity, repair, regeneration and more.
This can include:
Quiet learning for decision-makers
Interdepartmental education and coaching through projects
Place-based ward walks, diagnostics, research and analysis
Cohesive stakeholder mapping and tools for effective communication
Stakeholder learning programme development and/or facilitation
Participatory research/co-design sessions
Working examples
"Bridge to Belonging"
A place-based evaluation tool to establish priorities and consensus among decision-makers at a neighbourhood level - in particular, within areas of urban inequality/deprivation.
"Make Space for Soil"
A communication campaign strategy to educate and encourage city-dwellers and private developers to incorporate space for soil into urban property developments, homes and gardens.
"The World We Will Create"
Visioning and futures thinking workshops and resources for young people (15+) to support their sense of empowerment and agency in shaping a positive future.
Client ecosystem
Councils, schools/colleges, industry advisory bodies, design-led community initiatives.
“A special talent for looking at projects delivering solutions that satisfy the requirements from all stakeholder perspectives, are truly relevant and have undeniable integrity.”
Carra is UK-based and works internationally. Email Carra.
© Carra Santos MSc FRSA
Doughnut Economics.
Working with councils, communities and young people, Carra uses Doughnut Economics principles and tools to develop place-based visions and strategies that tackle economic, social and environmental issues simultaneously.
This creative yet grounded-in-evidence approach reveals actionable, cross-sector goals based on the manageable parameters of the city, town, village and neighbourhood scale.
Featured:
Doughnut Economics:
Can Bath Thrive Like Amsterdam?
Watch Carra's talk at Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution on 12 September 2023.
On your desktop/laptop: Scroll back and forward to particular slides by clicking '•••' and 'Hide Controls'.
Background.
Carra has been an approved independent Doughnut Economics educator and consultant since March 2023.
She began exploring Doughnut Economics around 2017, attending events from 2019, and becoming a DEAL community member on its launch in 2020. Her 2021 Masters dissertation on post-growth economic strategy and communication touched on the difference between degrowth, growth-agnostic and growth-led perspectives.Carra actively integrates Doughnut Economics principles into various sectors/strategies across the UK, such as creative enterprise, education and community climate action. She currently runs a Doughnut Economics learning group in Bath, UK, and supports leading universities and councils with local outreach and engagement.
Carra is UK-based and works internationally. Email Carra.
© Carra Santos MSc FRSA
Request a call.
Arrange a complementary 30min online call with Carra to say hello, and discuss your needs and interests.
A link will be provided upon confirmation of a date/time that works for both.
Carra is UK-based and works internationally. Email Carra.
© Carra Santos MSc FRSA
Nothing visible? Click here to go directly to Carra's Headspace on Padlet.
Carra is UK-based and works internationally. Email Carra.
© Carra Santos MSc FRSA